fn/ii 


.M/.v  1  1915 


BV  1520  .157  1914 
International  Sunday-school 

Association.  Commission  for 
The  teens  and  the  rural 

Sunday  school 


// 


,/ 


THE  TEENS    [  .'      ^  "^s 

AND  THE 

RURAL  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Bung  the  Second  Volume  of  the  Report  of  the  CoinnssioN  on  Adolescence 

AUTHOaiZED  BY  THE   SaN  FrANCISCO   C0>."\-EKTI0N  OF  THE  INTER- 
NATIONAL Sunday  School  Association. 
A  Srtr»Y  of  the  Adolescent  in  Relation  to  the  Rx:^\l  Community  xtndsr 
a,5oo  Population  and  in  the  Open  Country. 


BY  THE  COMMISSION  FOR  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT 
IN  THE  COUNTRY  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 


Edited  by 

JOHN  L.  ALEXANDER 

International  Smiday  School  Association 
Secondary  Division  Superintendent 


New  York:    124  East  28th  Street 
London;  47  Paternoster  Row,  E.G. 

1914 


Authorized  by  the  International  Sunday  School  Convention 
at  San  Francisco,  June,  1911,  under  the  direction  of  the  In- 
ternational Secondary  Division  Committee.  Edgar  H. 
Nichols,  Chairman,  Chicago,  111. ;  Frank  L.  Brown,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.;  Eugene  C.  Foster,  Detroit,  Mich.;  Wm.  C,  Johnston, 
Denver,  Col. ;  Wm.  H.  Danf orth,  St.  Louis,  Mo. ;  S.  F.  Shat- 
tuck,  Neenah,  Wis.;  R.  A.  Waite,  New  York,  N.  Y. ;  Mrs. 
M.  S.  Lamoreaux,  Chicago,  111.;  Minnie  E.  Kennedy,  Bir- 
mingham, Ala. ;  Anna  Branch  Binf  ord,  Richmond,  Va. ;  Helen 
Gill  Lovett,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  John  L.  Alexander,  Superin- 
tendent; Marion  Lawrance,  General  Secretary,  and  Fred  A. 
Wells.  Chairman  Executive  Committee. 


Copyright,  1914,  by 

The  International  Committee  of 

Young  Men's  Christun  Assocutions 


COMMISSION   FOR  THE  STUDY  OF  THE 
ADOLESCENT   PERIOD 

Edgar  H.  Nichols,  General  Chairman, 
Chairman  Secondary  Division  Committee, 
International  Sunday  School  Association. 

Frank  L.  Brown,  Secretary, 

Superintendent  Bushwick  Avenue 

Methodist  Episcopal  Sunday  School,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

John  L.  Alexander,  Editor, 

Superintendent  Secondary  Division 

International  Sunday  School  Association. 


ORGANIZATION   OF  COMMISSION 

I 

The  Individual. 

II 

The  Home. 

III 

The  Church. 

IV 

The  Sunday  School. 

V 

The  Community. 

VI 

The  Adolescent  in  Relation  to  the 

Country  Sunday  School. 


THE   PERSONNEL  OF  THE  COMMISSION 

FOR  THE   STUDY  OF  THE  ADOLESCENT 

IN  THE  COUNTRY  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Kenyon  L  BuTTERFiELD,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Chairman,  President 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  Amherst,  Mass.; 
Vice-Chairman  United  States  Rural  Commission. 

Albert  E.  Roberts,  County  Work  Secretary,  International 
Committee  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations. 

Prof.  G.  Walter  Fiske,  Junior  Dean,  Oberlin  Theological 
Seminary. 

Prof.  G.  A.  Hubbell,  President  Lincoln  Memorial  University, 
Cumberland  Gap,  Tenn. 

Miss  Eloise  Snell,  Teen  Age  Worker. 

Miss  Jessie  Field,  Rural  Work  Secretary,  National  Young 
Women's  Christian  Associations. 

Fred  Washburn,  Field  Secretary  Berrien  County  Sunday 
School  Association,  Benton  Harbor,  Mich, 

Paul  S.  Dietrich,  Bible  School  Pastor,  Lincoln,  Neb. 

Henry  Yeigh,  District  Agent  Colonization  Department,  Ca- 
nadian Pacific  Railroad  Lands. 

Ralph  A.  Felton,  Specialist  in  Country  Church  Survey 
Work. 

Rev.  Wilbert  L.  Anderson,  D.D.,  Pastor  First  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Amherst,  Mass.;  Author  "The  Country 
Town." 

Prof.  G.  A.  Bricker,  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio,  Pro- 
fessor of  Agricultural  Education. 

Rev.  Warren  H.  Wilson,  Ph.D.,  Superintendent  Rural  Work, 
Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A. 

Prof.  T.  N.  Carver,  Professor  Department  of  Economics, 
Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Rev.  E.  W.  Halpenny,  General  Secretary  Ontario  Sunday 
School  Association. 

Rev.  N.  W.  Stroup,  District  Superintendent  M.  E.  Church  and 
Member  of  Country  Church  Commission,  Cleveland, 
Ohio. 

iv 


Members  of  Commission  V 

Dr.  William  Goodel  Frost,  LL.D.,  President  Bcrea  College, 
Berea,  Tenn. 

Rev.  G.  p.  Williams,  D.D.,  Secretary  of  Missions,  American 
Sunday  School  Union,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Prof.  George  Frederick  Wells,  Research  Secretary  Federal 
Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 

Rev.  Joseph  Clark,  D.D.,  General  Secretary  New  York  State 
Sunday  School  Association. 

Prof.  Wm.  A.  McKeever,  Professor  University  of  Kansas, 

Prof.  Ernest  Burnham,  Professor  Rural  Education,  Kala- 
mazoo, Mich. 

Clark  W.  Hetherington,  President  Athletic  Research  So- 
ciety; Director  Physical  Training,  Wisconsin  University. 

Miss  Anna  Seaburg,  Office  Secretary  National  Board,  Young 
Women's  Christian  Associations,  New  York  City. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    Historical  and  Explanatory  ....        i 
John  L.  Alexander,  Superintendent  Second- 
ary Division,  International  Sunday  School  As- 
sociation, and  Editor. 

II    The  History  and  Method  of  the  Com- 
mission             3 

Kenyon  L.  Butterfield,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Pres- 
ident Massachusetts  Agricultural  College. 

III  Conditions    Which    Affect    Adoles- 

cence IN  Rural  Districts     ....        7 
Rev.  Warren  H.  Wilson,   Ph.D.,   Superin- 
tendent Department   of   Church   and   Country 
Life  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions. 

IV  The  Individual 23 

Rev.  Wilbert  L.  Anderson,  D.D.,  Author  of 
"The  Country  Town." 

V    Leadership  and   the   Rural   Sunday 

School 53 

Rev.  N.  W.  Stroup,  District  Superintendent 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  Member  of 
the  Ohio  Country  Life  Commission. 

VI    Teaching     in     the     Rural     Sunday 

School 63 

Professor  G.  Walter  _  Fiske,  Junior  Dean, 
Oberlin  Theological  Seminary. 

VII    Teacher  Training  for  the  Country 

Sunday  School 67 

Franklin  McElfresh,  Ph.D.,  International 

Sunday  School  Association  Teacher  Training 

Superintendent. 

vii 


viii  Contents 

CHAPTER  PACK 

VIII    Cooperative  Activities 75 

Wm.  a.  McKeever,  Professor  Universit}  of 
Kansas. 

IX    The  Rural  Sunday  School  Organized 

FOR  Adolescent  Development  ...      87 
Rev.  Joseph  Clark,  D.D.,  General  Secretary 
New  York  State  Sunday  School  Association. 

X  Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the 
Adolescence  Commission  for  the 
Rural  Sunday  School 109 

Kenyon  L.  Butterfield,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Pres- 
ident Massachusetts  Agricultural  College. 

XI     Squared  for  Work 143 

John  L.  Alexander,  Editor;  Superintend- 
ent Secondary  Division  International  Sunday 
School  Association. 

XII    Bibliographies 149 


The  Teens  and  the  Rural 
Sunday  School 

Chapter  I 
HISTORICAL   AND    EXPLANATORY 

In  September,  nineteen  hundred  and  eleven,  the 
Commission  on  the  Adolescent  was  organized  in 
Chicago,  with  E.  H.  Nichols  and  Frank  L.  Brown 
as  Chairman  and  Secretary.  This  Commission  had 
been  authorized  by  the  International  Convention, 
the  source  of  authority  of  the  International  Sunday 
School  Association,  in  the  preceding  June  at  San 
Francisco.  The  Commission  divided  itself  into  six 
parts  for  careful  study :  The  Individual,  The  Home, 
The  Church,  The  Sunday  School,  The  Community, 
and  The  Country  Sunday  School.  The  first  five 
reported  in  the  spring  of  1913,  and  the  report  was 
published  under  the  title,  **The  Sunday  School  and 
the  Teens."  *  The  report  of  the  sixth  sub-commis- 
sion comprises  the  present  volume,  it  being  deemed 
best  to  keep  the  city  and  rural  problems  apart. 

Dr.  Kenyon  L.  Butterfield,  President  of  Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural  College  and  Vice-Chairman 
of  the  United  States  Rural  Life  Commission,  has 

♦Association  Press,  New  York  City. 

I 


2         The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

directed  the  investigation  and  findings  of  this  re- 
port. The  personnel  of  the  Commission  is  given  on 
another  page,  and  it  is  mere  justice  to  say  that  the 
work  of  this  group  of  men  and  women  has  not  only 
been  scientific  in  its  approach,  but  thorough  in  its 
method  and  completion.  It  is  no  reflection  on  the 
work  of  the  commissions  reporting  in  "The  Sunday 
School  and  the  Teens"  to  say  that  the  Rural  Com- 
mission, by  painstaking  effort  in  repeated  meetings, 
has  gone  far  beyond  any  similar  Sunday  school 
group  in  the  manner  and  method  of  their  work. 
This  present  volume  should  be  both  a  guide  and  a 
challenge  to  all  those  who  would  understand  and 
lead  in  rural  Sunday  school  work.  The  Rural  Com- 
mission has  had  a  free  hand  in  its  investigation  and 
conclusions,  and  this  book  is  the  exact  findings  of 
the  Commission.  The  name  of  the  wi:iter  of  each 
chapter — not  necessarily  the  author — may  be  seen 
in  the  Contents. 


Chapter    II 

THE    HISTORY   AND    METHODS    OF    THE 
COMMISSION 

The  Commission  for  the  Study  of  the  Adolescent 
in  Relation  to  the  Country  Sunday  School  was  or- 
ganized under  the  auspices  of  the  International 
Sunday  School  Association  and  under  the  immedi- 
ate direction  of  Frank  L.  Brown,  directly  represent- 
ing the  Association.  The  first  meeting  was  held  in 
New  York  December  7,  191 1.  At  that  meeting  Mr. 
Brown  stated  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  com- 
mittee to  investigate  every  side  of  the  relationship 
of  young  people  to  the  home,  the  Church,  the  Sun- 
day school,  and  the  community,  and  if  possible  re- 
port a  plan  that  would  save  the  waste  caused  by  so 
many  young  people,  particularly  between  the  ages 
of  fifteen  and  twenty,  leaving  the  Sunday  school. 
At  that  meeting  letters  were  sent  to  members  of  the 
commission,  asking  them  to  submit  questions  for 
discussion. 

The  next  full  meeting  of  the  commission  was  held 
in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  January  15  and  16,  1912.  The 
secretary  presented  a  report  showing  the  compila- 
tion of  questions  that  had  been  presented  by  mem- 
bers of  the  commission,  and  it  was  voted  to  define 
the  purpose  of  the  commission  as  follows : 

3 


4         The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Su/nday  School 

"How  may  the  Sunday  school  efficiently  serve  the 
development  of  the  country  boy  and  girl  in  the 
adolescent  period?" 

There  was  a  full  discussion  of  methods  of  work 
to  be  undertaken,  as  well  as  on  the  general  char- 
acter of  the  enterprise.  It  was  voted  to  confine  the 
work  of  the  commission  to  communities  having  a 
population  of  2,500  and  less  and,  so  far  as  possible, 
to  make  a  division  in  this  field  as  between  villages 
and  the  open  country.  The  commission  was  divided 
into  six  sub-commissions  and  an  Executive  Commit- 
tee. The  list  of  members  of  these  sub-commissions 
is  appended. 


I    The  Individual: 

Dr.  W.  L.  Anderson,    Chairman, 
Dr.  George  A.  Hubbell. 
Miss  Anna  Seaburg. 

II    Sunday  School  Organization  : 
Dr.  Joseph  Clark,  'Chairman, 
Miss  Eloise  Snell. 
Dr.  W.  G.  Frost. 
Dr.  G.  P.  Williams. 
Ralph  A.  Felton. 
Fred  Washburn. 

Ill    Cooperative  Activities: 

Prof.  W.  A.  McKeever,   Chairman. 
Miss  Jessie  Field. 
E.  W.  Halpenny. 


The  History  and  Methods  of  the  Commission     5 

Prof.  Ernest  Burnham. 
Prof.  Clark  W.  Hetherington. 

IV    Leadership  : 

Rev.  N.  W.  Stroup,  Chairman, 
Henry  Yeigh. 
Prof.  G.  A.  Bricker. 

y    Teaching  : 

Prof.  G.  Walter  Fiske,  Chairman. 
Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson. 
Dr.  T.  N.  Carver. 
Paul  S.  Dietrich. 

VI    Survey  : 

Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson,  Chairman. 

Ralph  A.  Felton. 

Albert  E.  Roberts. 

Rev.  George  Frederick  Wells. 

VII    Executive  Committee: 
Dr.  K.  L.  Butterfield. 
Albert  E.  Roberts. 
Dr.  W.  L.  Anderson. 

At  a  full  meeting  of  the  commission,  held  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  March  ii,  1913,  each  sub-commis- 
sion reported  in  writing  through  its  chairman.  Each 
report  was  gone  over  by  the  whole  commission, 
changes  suggested,  and  the  report  approved.  These 
reports  appear  in  the  body  of  the  report,  and  have 
also  been  summarized  in  order  that  the  reader  may 
have,  in  brief  space,  access  to  the  material  gathered 


6         The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

by  this  commission.  The  Executive  Committee  also 
has  made  a  report  based  in  part  upon  reports  of 
sub-commissions  and  designed  principally  to  sum- 
marize the  question  from  the  large,  general  point 
of  view. 


Chapter   III 

CONDITIONS    WHICH    AFFECT    ADOLES- 
CENTS   IN    RURAL    DISTRICTS 

What  are  the  existing  conditions  in  rural  districts 
which  affect  adolescents?  The  Department  of 
Church  and  Country  Life  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Home  Missions  has  directed  Surveys  in  rural 
districts  in  the  States  of  Illinois,  Pennsylvania,  Mis- 
souri, Indiana,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  and 
Ohio.  The  investigators  employed  have  gathered 
their  facts  by  a  personal  study  of  the  field,  one  man 
spending  two  or  three  months  in  each  county.  Over 
sixty  counties  have  been  covered.  These  studies 
were  intended  to  deal  with  the  entire  country  life 
question  without  special  attention  to  adolescents. 
Some  of  the  information  collected  which  has  to  do 
with  adolescents  furnishes  the  data  for  this  paper. 
No  pretense  is  made  that  the  results  are  complete, 
that  is,  as  affecting  the  entire  country,  though  they 
present  the  facts  affecting  the  communities  studied. 
It  seems  advisable  to  have  such  a  survey  made 
dealing  exclusively  with  adolescents.  We  would 
recommend  it  to  be  made  by  personal  study  instead 
of  by  the  questionnaire  method. 

Economic  Conditions. — The  price  of  farm  prop- 
7 


8         The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

erty  in  the  United  States  has  increased  icxd-S  per 
cent  from  the  years  1900  to  1910  (U.  S.  Census  Re- 
ports). This  has  made  it  more  difficult  for  young 
people  to  get  land  of  their  own,  the  result  of  which 
has  been  to  accelerate  their  going  to  the  city.  The 
increase  in  the  urban  population  from  1900  to  1910 
was  34.8  per  cent,  while  the  rural  population  has 
increased  only  11.2  per  cent.  If  the  villages  were 
deducted  from  the  rural  population  in  the  majority 
of  the  states  there  would  be  a  decrease.  Young 
people  generally  do  not  leave  the  farm  for  the  city 
until  they  are  ready  to  ''settle  down,"  at  which  time 
they  find  from  an  economic  standpoint  that  it  is 
easier  to  get  started  in  the  city.  This  is  illustrated 
by  the  following  table  from  the  United  States  Cen- 
sus of  1910: 

Age  Period  Percentage  of  Total  Population 

Urban  Rural 

All  ages 100.0  100.0 

Under  5  years 9.9  13.0 

5  to  9  years 8.9  12.1 

10  to  14  years 8.5  11.1 

15  to  19  years  9.4  10.3 

20  to  24  years  10.7  9.1 

25  to  29  years  10.2  7.8 

30  to  34  years  8.7  6.6 

35  to  44  years  14.4  11.2 

45  to  54  years  9.8  8.5 

55  to  64  years  5.4  5.6 

65  years  and  over 4.0  4.6 

Another  effect  of  the  sudden  increase  in  the  price 
of  farm  property  has  been  to  increase  the  propor- 
tion of  tenants.  This  rapid  increase  in  tenantry  has 
had  a  deteriorating  effect  on  social  institutions  in 
the  country,  due  to  the  low  income  and  the  tempo- 


Conditions  in  Rural  Districts  9 

rary  residence  of  the  population.  For  example,  in 
Butler  County,  Ohio,  where  42  per  cent  of  the 
farmer  population  were  tenants,  only  22  per  cent  of 
the  church  members  were  tenants.  In  Sullivan 
County,  Missouri,  in  forty-five  families  studied  it 
was  found  that  only  10  per  cent  of  the  hired  men 
and  28  per  cent  of  the  tenants  attended  church  one- 
half  of  the  time  or  more,  while  the  proportion  of 
farmers  owning  sixty  acres  of  land  and  over  who 
attended  half  the  time  or  more  ranged  from  40  to 
53  per  cent.  The  same  facts  were  revealed  in  Ten- 
nessee. Practically  the  same  conditions  regarding 
church  membership  and  attendance  in  relation  to 
land  ownership  was  shown  in  Ohio  as  in  Missouri. 
The  proportion  of  tenants  enrolled  in  churches  was 
lower  than  that  of  the  owner's  group  of  the  small- 
est-sized farms. 

It  is  very  encouraging  to  study  the  incomes  of 
the  successful  farmers.  Such  a  study  convinces  us 
that  farming  can  be  made  one  of  the  most  paying, 
as  well  as  one  of  the  most  enjoyable,  occupations. 
Not  all  farmers,  unfortunately,  are  well  trained  and 
successful,  but  we  believe  it  is  the  duty  of  country 
churches  and  Sunday  schools  to  develop  better 
farmers  and  thus  to  strengthen  the  efficiency  of  the 
country  church  and  Sunday  school. 

Though  the  income  of  farmers  is  large  in  some 
instances,  the  average  is  smaller  than  is  generally 
supposed.  This  low  income  is  due,  among  other 
things,  to  the  necessity  of  a  large  investment,  owing 
to  the  high  price  of  land ;  to  unscientific  methods  of 
farming,  due,  in  part,  to  the  influence  of  the  city  on 


10       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

our  rural  education  and  religion ;  and  to  the  profits 
of  a  succession  of  middlemen  made  possible  by  in- 
creased organization  in  the  city  and  the  lack  of  co- 
operation in  the  country,  due  to  the  increasing  lack 
of  leaders  found  there  and  the  failure  to  recognize 
what  leaders  there  are. 

Regarding  the  profits  of  middlemen,  President 
Dabney  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati  is  respon- 
sible for  the  statement  that  for  every  dollar  which 
the  consumer  pays  for  the  farmer's  produce  only  35 
cents  gets  back  to  the  farmer. 

In  view  of  these  economic  changes  it  is  evident 
that  there  is  needed  better  methods  of  farming  and 
more  cooperation  among  farmers.  A  new  emphasis 
by  the  Sunday  school  on  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
which  deal  with  farm  life  and  the  religion  of  the 
farmer  will  undoubtedly  greatly  influence  country 
boys  to  love  the  life  on  the  farm,  and  to  point  them 
toward  educational  institutions  which  will  better 
equip  them  for  successful  farm  life. 

When  the  Israelites  crossed  the  Jordan,  leaving 
their  nomadic  life  to  become  farmers,  the  only  mo- 
tive which  was  strong  enough  to  overcome  their 
newly  developing  individualism  and  make  them  co- 
operate against  oppression  was  the  religious  motive, 
and  as  the  leaders  in  their  cooperation  came  from  a 
threshing  floor  or  a  palm  tree  in  their  midst  so  must 
the  leaders  of  the  American  farmer  be  raised  up 
from  the  farm,  not  imported.  It  is  generally  agreed 
that  nothing  is  more  needed  in  the  country  than 
leaders,  and  no  institution  has  a  greater  opportunity 
for  the  developing  of  leaders  than  the  rural  Sunday 


Conditions  in  Rural  Districts  H 

school,  for  it  is  the  only  democratic  institution 
found  there  in  which  all  the  family  come  together 
regularly.  Its  meetings  come  regularly,  while 
preaching  services  in  the  country  would  not  aver- 
age twice  a  month. 

In  Gibson  County,  Tenn.,  in  the  82  country 
churches,  none  have  preaching  every  Sunday,  only 
two  have  it  half  the  time,  74  one-fourth  of  the  time, 
and  the  remainder  less  often.  The  Sunday  school 
gives  an  opportunity  for  self-expression  to  all,  and 
it  deals  with  the  members  of  the  family  while  in 
their  impressionable  age.  For  the  rural  Sunday 
school  to  develop  the  much  needed  leadership  it 
must  look  toward  the  organization  of  all  classes, 
beginning  with  the  intermediates,  with  a  definite 
program  and  the  substitution  of  open  discussion  in 
class  for  the  lecture  and  moralizing  method. 

Educational  Conditions. — It  is  generally  under- 
stood that  country  people  do  not  have  educational 
advantages  equal  to  the  people  in  the  city.  From 
the  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  (1909, 
Chapter  XVI,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education)  we  learn 
that  the  average  total  expenditure  on  the  education 
of  the  city  pupil  for  one  year  is  $32.28 ;  of  the  coun- 
try pupil  $16.52.  These  figures  are  somewhat  mis- 
leading, as  they  include  interest  on  investment  in 
land  and  buildings  which  are  more  expensive  in  the 
city,  the  advantages  of  which  may  not  be  so  super- 
ior. Yet  this  report  includes  in  the  country  classifi- 
cation all  villages  under  4,000  population.  Deducting 
these  villages,  the  facts  reveal  the  true  condition  of 
the  education  of  the  farmer's  children.     In  Gibson 


12       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

County,  Tenn.,  the  per  capita  cost  of  tuition  for  the 
country  pupil  was  found  to  be  $5.77  per  year;  for 
the  pupil  in  the  village  $10.00.  In  Webster  County, 
Kentucky,  a  rural  county,  the  average  annual  cost 
for  teaching  each  white  pupil  was  found  to  be  $5.89. 

This  discrimination  shows  itself  in  the  length  of 
term,  in  the  material  equipment,  and  in  the  prep- 
aration of  the  teachers.  The  average  length  of 
term  in  the  country  schools  in  the  three  counties  in 
Indiana  (Daviess,  Boone,  and  Marshall)  which  we 
studied  was  6  7/12  months,  while  in  the  villages  of 
the  same  counties  it  was  8  4/7  months.  Only  five 
schools  in  Webster  County,  Kentucky,  have  more 
than  a  six-months'  term.  The  average  salary  of 
country  teachers  in  Gibson  County,  Tenn.,  is  $45.50 
per  month ;  of  village  and  city  teachers  is  $52.00. 
In  the  three  Indiana  counties  the  country  teachers 
average  $2.63  per  day;  the  village  teachers  $3.21. 
The  country  schools  were  similarly  lacking  in  ma- 
terial equipment. 

If  the  function  of  the  school  is  to  train  pupils  for 
the  environment  in  which  they  are  to  live  it  is  gen- 
erally agreed  that  country  boys  should  be  taught 
agriculture.  In  the  three  Indiana  counties  there 
was  one  country  school  teaching  agriculture  and 
none  in  the  Missouri  counties.  Ohio  and  several 
other  states  have  recently  passed  a  law  making 
provision  for  agriculture  to  be  taught  in  all  schools. 

The  improvement  of  the  country  schools  rests 
largely  with  each  community.  The  greatest  im- 
provement in  country  schools  at  the  present  time  is 
coming    through    consolidation.      This    solves    the 


Conditions  in  Rural  Districts  13 

problem  of  material  equipment  and  better  teachers, 
and  does  much  toward  developing  the  community- 
spirit. 

In  a  study  made  in  Tennessee  it  was  found  that 
country  girls  receive  a  higher  education  than  the 
country  boys.  Fifty-two  per  cent  of  the  girls  went 
through  the  eighth  grade,  or  beyond,  as  against  33.5 
per  cent  of  the  boys.  This  difference  in  education 
seems  to  make  the  girls  either  unwilling  or  unfit 
to  become  wives  of  the  boys  with  whom  they  have 
grown  up.  Out  of  two  hundred  country  boys  be- 
tween twenty  and  thirty  years  old  we  find  that 
72.5  per  cent  of  them  have  become  farmers,  while 
of  the  girls  who  grew  up  in  the  same  community 
and  are  of  the  same  age  only  54.1  per  cent  of  them 
have  become  farmers'  wives.  Thirteen  and  two- 
tenths  per  cent  are  wives  of  men  in  other  occupa- 
tions, 1.9  per  cent  are  students,  1.2  per  cent  are 
clerks  in  stores,  5.7  per  cent  are  teaching,  and  23.9 
per  cent  are  at  home.  (The  average  age  when  girls 
get  married  in  this  community  is  20  years.) 

This  same  intensive  study  showed  that  the  boys 
who  left  the  farm  were  those  with  the  poorest  and 
with  the  best  education,  while  those  with  the  aver- 
age education  remained.  Only  ii  per  cent  of  the 
boys  who  have  stayed  on  the  farm  have  gone  be- 
yond the  eighth  grade.  On  the  other  hand,  30  per 
cent  of  those  who  left  the  farm  did  not  go  beyond 
the  fifth  grade,  while  only  28  per  cent  of  those  who 
remained  did  not  go  beyond  this  grade.  Sixty-one 
per  cent  of  those  who  remained  on  the  farm  belong 
in  this  middle  class,  that  is,  those  who  dropped  out 


14       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

somewhere  between  the  fifth  and  eighth  grades, 
while  only  30  per  cent  of  those  who  left  fall  in  this 
same  class. 

From  this  it  appears  that  the  rural  districts  are 
losing  their  best  and  their  poorest,  thus  developing 
a  dead-level  type  in  which  leaders  are  scarce  and 
with  little  inclination  to  follow  what  leaders  there 
are.  The  poor  leave  probably  because  they  cannot 
get  started.  The  best  leave  because  their  education 
has  made  them  dislike  farming. 

Social  Condition^. — We  leave  to  the  psycholo- 
gists the  question  of  the  isolated  country  districts 
developing  different  characteristics  in  adolescents 
than  the  congested  city.  We  are  certain,  however, 
that  the  opportunities  afforded  by  country  institu- 
tions for  meeting  those  characteristics  which  are 
developed  differ  greatly  from  those  afforded  by  the 
city.  Instruction  in  hygiene,  which  the  physical  de- 
velopment of  the  early  teens  demands,  is  not  pro- 
vided for  in  the  country.  In  this  same  period  of 
rapid  physical  growth  and  activity,  when  hero  stud- 
ies taught  by  young  teachers  are  needed  to  meet  the 
spiritual  demands,  we  find  in  most  country  Sunday 
schools  the  young  adolescents  are  taught  by  an 
elderly  person  "who  can  keep  a  strong  hand  on 
them,"  and  who  is  using  the  uniform  lessons  because 
they  claim  the  graded  lessons,  with  their  present 
minute  divisions,  are  not  adapted  to  such  small 
schools.  The  personal  religious  devotion  of  many 
of  these  teachers  to  their  pupils  does  much  to  over- 
come the  defects  in  the  system. 

The  sense  of  independence  which  comes  in  the 


Conditions  in  Rural  Districts  I5 

late  teens  is  more  marked  in  the  country  than  in  the 
city,  especially  so  in  boys.  The  girls  work  and 
plan  and  share  each  day's  experience  with  their 
mothers.  The  boys  are  alone  with  a  team  in  the 
field  many  working  days.  This  independence  is 
shown  by  the  way  they  indiscriminately  claim 
things  on  the  farm,  such  as  colts  and  calves.  Some 
farmers  happily  meet  this  desire  of  their  sons  by 
giving  them  the  returns  from  one  of  the  fields  or 
perhaps  a  share  in  the  live  stock.  Unfortunately 
most  country  boys  meet  with  continual  disappoint- 
ment in  their  attempt  at  ownership,  and  again  and 
again  comes  to  them  the  thought,  "Father,  give  me 
the  portion  of  goods  that  falleth  to  me," 

While  the  city  boy  demands  many  organizations 
and  many  writers  advocate  the  same  for  the  coun- 
try, the  studies  which  we  have  made  so  far  do  not 
indicate  the  need  of  many  separate  organizations. 
Unless  the  leaders  are  exceptional  most  of  these 
separate  organizations  are  not  successful.  This  lack 
of  success  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  most  or- 
ganizations come  from  the  city.  It  may  be  due  to 
the  unsocializing  influence  of  country  life.  We  are 
led  to  believe  after  studying  the  organizations  of 
several  hundred  churches  that  there  are  far  too 
many  separate  church  organizations  in  the  country 
now.  It  is  difficult  for  separate  organizations  to 
succeed  in  the  country  churches.  The  people  feel 
they  should  have  them,  yet  most  of  these  organiza- 
tions are  in  a  temporary  state  of  existence.  While 
the  Survey  was  being  made  in  the  211  Indiana 
churches  4  per  cent  of  the  country  churches  had 


i6       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

men's  Brotherhoods,  25  per  cent  had  Ladies'  Aid 
Societies,  8  per  cent  had  Ladies'  Missionary  Soci- 
eties, and  12  per  cent  had  other  young  people's  or- 
ganizations. 

What  the  young  people  in  the  late  teens  need  in- 
stead is  a  publicly  recognized  and  independent  share 
in  the  ordinary  work.  We  need  fewer  separate  or- 
ganizations, but  a  share  for  the  young  people  in 
existing  organizations.  Young  men  would  much 
prefer  to  be  given  a  chance  to  take  care  of  the 
church  property  or  repair  the  church  building,  build 
the  hitch  racks,  plant  the  trees  and  mow  the  weeds 
on  the  church  grounds  than  to  work  at  home  while 
their  fathers  do  it.  Their  much  developed  spirit  of 
independence  makes  them  prefer  a  share  in  the 
church's  work  to  its  prayers  and  solicitations  for 
their  soul's  welfare. 

If  there  is  a  successful  Grange  or  other  agricul- 
tural organization  in  the  community,  why  not  have 
a  young  people's  branch  or  special  nights  for  the 
young,  instead  of  making  so  many  new  clubs  which 
die  with  the  seasons?  Instead  of  having  half  a  dozen 
missionary  and  temperance  organizations,  why  not 
have  a  missionary  and  temperance  committee  in  the 
organized  Sunday  school  class?  Instead  of  leaving 
the  athletic  and  social  interests  of  the  young  people 
to  the  sporadic  efforts  of  some  envied  "leader,"  why 
not  have  an  athletic  and  social  committee  a  part  of 
some  already  existing  institution,  which  institution 
is  permanently  located  in  the  country? 

In  the  late  teens  the  anti-girl  idea  gives  way  to 
courting.    In  asking  the  reason  for  the  discontinu- 


Conditions  in  Rural  Districts  17 

ance  of  some  young  people's  organizations  in  coun- 
try churches  we  are  often  told  that  "it  got  to  be 
nothing  but  a  courtin'  institution,  so  we  stopped  it." 
Dancing  is  the  most  successful  "courtin'  institution" 
yet  invented  for  rural  young  people.  It  brings  them 
together  entirely  apart  from  the  old  folks,  and  it 
furnishes  an  activity  which  makes  them  forget  their 
feeling  of  clumsiness  when  they  are  together. 

Country  churches  universally  condemn  dancing, 
yet  in  many  communities  it  is  the  only  popular  in- 
stitution found  among  rural  country  folk.  In  many 
cases  it  is  the  only  typical  young  people's  institu- 
tion. Our  limited  study  indicates  that  the  control 
of  the  social  life  of  the  people  in  the  late  teens  rests 
with  the  church,  the  Sunday  school,  or  any  other 
institution  which  will  provide  for  the  healthy  com- 
mingling of  the  young  men  and  the  young  women, 
and  will  treat  domestic  life  problems  from  a  natural 
standpoint. 

In  one  county  in  Indiana  where  we  made  a  special 
study  of  the  relation  of  the  church  to  social  life  we 
found  that  of  those  churches  furnishing  social  life 
59  per  cent  were  not  only  maintaining  themselves, 
but  were  growing,  while  only  20  per  cent  of  the 
churches  not  furnishing  it  were  growing.  But  in 
two  of  the  Indiana  counties  only  one-fifth  of  the 
country  churches  had  more  than  one  social  event 
per  year.  In  the  three  Indiana  counties,  Boone 
County  ranks  first,  Daviess  second,  and  Marshall 
third,  in  the  proportion  of  population  enrolled  as 
church  members.  The  order  is  the  same  for  the 
proportion  of  social   life  furnished  by  the  church. 


i8       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

The  order  is  reversed  for  the  proportion  of  social 
life  furnished  by  commercial  agencies.  In  totaling 
the  results  in  the  three  counties  we  calculated  that 
only  29  per  cent  of  the  social  life  found  in  the  com- 
munity is  furnished  by  the  church.  Forty-six  per 
cent  of  the  social  life  provided  by  the  church  (except 
Sunday  school  picnics)  is  furnished  for  pay.  The 
church  has  not  conceived  the  notion  of  spending 
money  for  social  affairs.  Only  one-third  of  a  cent 
in  every  dollar  of  the  church's  money  is  spent  in 
providing  social  life. 

With  regard  to  the  church  and  social  life  the 
country  churches  are  on  the  defensive.  They  gen- 
erally do  little  more  than  condemn  it,  yet  only  8 
per  cent  w^ere  found  to  be  opposed  to  all  kinds  of 
social  life.  Instead  of  being  told  to  "provide  social 
life"  they  need  a  program  as  to  "how  to  provide  it." 
This  is  easily  arranged  if  there  is  a  resident  min- 
ister, but  in  nineteen  counties  in  Ohio  only  6  per 
cent  of  the  country  churches  had  resident  ministers. 
Until  this  situation  is  changed  the  Sunda}'^  school 
must  do  much  in  this  line.  In  a  study  of  over  a 
thousand  Sunday  schools  we  have  been  convinced 
that  the  local  Sunday  school  officers  are  as  thor- 
oughly agreed  that  there  is  a  dearth  of  social  life 
in  their  community,  and  that  they  are  as  badly  in 
need  of  it,  as  are  the  "rural  experts"  who  compose 
church  and  Sunday  school  commissions.  The  ques- 
tion the  Sunday  school  people  continually  ask  is, 
*'How  shall  we  do  it?"  If  a  little  pamphlet  were 
furnished  the  Sunday  school  officers  telling  them 
just  how  to  conduct  a  Field  Meet  for  the  boys,  de- 


Conditions  in  Rural  Districts  19 

scribing  each  event  and  giving  simplified  rules  for 
the  same,  it  would  meet  a  real  need.  If  a  suggestive 
social  program  could  be  worked  out  for  these  com- 
munities they  would  welcome  it.  Such  a  program 
would  need  to  smack  of  the  soil,  however.  The 
words  of  a  young  Indiana  farmer  illustrate  a  gen- 
eral condition,  "The  last  dance  we  had  in  this  com- 
munity was  seventeen  years  ago,  the  last  church 
social  two  years  ago,  the  last  Sunday  school  social 
a  year  ago,  but  what  can  we  do  about  it?"  If  recre- 
ation offers  an  opportunity  for  developing  self-ex- 
pression, for  teaching  morals,  and  for  training  the 
young  for  their  place  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  the 
earth,  surely  a  great  chance  has  now  come  for  re- 
ligious people  in  the  rural  districts. 

Religious  Conditions. — Having  used  the  word 
church  to  designate  the  congregation,  both  worship- 
ing and  studying,  we  now  must  limit  our  discussion 
of  religious  conditions  to  the  relationship  which  the 
Sunday  school  bears  to  them.  The  best  country 
Sunday  schools  are  those  which  report  at  county 
conventions,  and  the  best  counties  are  represented 
at  state  gatherings.  From  such  we  are  apt  to  get 
our  impressions.  No  one  ever  goes  to  a  convention 
or  a  committee  meeting  to  make  a  report  for  the 
boys  and  girls  not  in  the  Sunday  school. 

In  Gibson  County,  Tenn.,  we  found  that  60  per 
cent  of  the  children  of  school  age  were  not  in  the 
Sunday  school.  The  country  Sunday  schools  were 
much  weaker  than  those  in  the  villages.  More  than 
five-sevenths  of  the  children  in  the  villages  are  in 
the  Sunday  school ;  in  the  country  less  than  one- 


20       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

fourth.  In  Boone  and  Marshall  Counties,  Indiana, 
where  the  Sunday  schools  are  far  above  the  average, 
two  out  of  every  five  of  all  the  children  in  the  teen 
ages  are  not  enrolled  in  the  Sunday  school. 

There  are  7,250,000  people  in  the  rural  districts  of 
the  United  States  in  these  ages.  If  the  Sunday 
schools  throughout  the  country  could  suddenly  be- 
come as  efficient  as  these  Indiana  schools  there 
would  still  be  nearly  three  million  adolescents  in 
the  rural  districts  who  are  not  enrolled  in  any  Sun- 
day school. 

Important  as  the  adolescent  problem  is  to  these 
country  churches,  we  find  that  in  Indiana  only  3 
cents  out  of  every  dollar  of  the  church's  money  is 
spent  on  the  religious  education  of  the  young  people 
in  the  teen  ages.  Only  9  per  cent  of  the  country 
churches  have  more  than  one  room,  yet  denomina- 
tionalism  has  built  many  extra  buildings.  If,  in- 
stead of  building  thirty-three  new  church  buildings 
in  Gibson  County,  Tenn.,  in  the  next  ten  years,  as 
they  have  done  in  the  last  ten,  with  little  increase  in 
the  population,  they  should  spend  this  amount  in 
building  extra  rooms  on  the  churches  now  standing, 
w^hich  rooms  could  be  used  for  the  religious  educa- 
tion of  the  adolescent  pupils  in  the  Sunday  schools, 
the  results  would  be  interesting. 

The  importance  of  the  work  with  adolescents  is 
shown  in  a  study  of  those  who  joined  the  churches 
in  the  three  Indiana  counties  during  one  year  by 
profession  of  faith.  Out  of  the  551  people  half  were 
under  16  years  of  age  and  75  per  cent  were  under 
24.    Not  only  is  the  question  of  joining  the  church 


Conditions  in  Rural  Districts  21 

settled  in  the  adolescent  years,  but  the  so-called 
"Men  and  Religion"  problem  is  largely  accounted 
for  during  these  years.  In  21 1  Indiana  churches  we 
found  that  40  1-3  per  cent  of  all  church  members 
were  males,  and  39.2  per  cent  of  all  church  members 
under  the  age  of  21  were  males.  The  proportion  of 
males  in  the  churches  is  settled  before  the  members 
reach  the  age  of  21.  In  173  churches  in  Marshall 
and  Boone  counties  46  have  no  young  men  in  them 
under  21  years  of  age.  This  losing  of  the  young 
men  on  the  part  of  the  church  seems  a  somewhat 
recent  development  in  Tennessee.  Here  y2  per  cent 
of  the  heads  of  families  were  church  members,  75 
per  cent  of  the  females  between  the  ages  of  20  and 
30,  while  only  45  per  cent  of  the  males  between 
those  ages  are  church  members.  These  cold  figures 
certainly  call  loudly  for  active  interest  and  sympa- 
thetic prayers. 


Chapter    IV 
THE    INDIVIDUAL 

The  Committee  on  the  Individual  appointed  by 
the  Commission  for  the  Study  of  the  Adolescent 
Period  as  Related  to  the  Country  Sunday  School 
was  asked  to  answer  two  questions :  How  do  coun- 
try boys  and  girls  differ  from  city  boys  and  girls? 
What  are  the  causes  of  such  differences?  We  are 
charged  with  an  investigation  to  discover  facts 
rather  than  the  construction  of  a  program,  but  our 
conclusions  cannot  be  separated  from  practical  sug- 
gestions, which  we  submit  to  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee for  final  action. 

It  will  be  convenient  to  begin  with  a  survey  of 
the  possible  causes  of  peculiar  characteristics  in 
country  boys  and  girls. 

Formative   Rural    Influences 

Any  study  of  character  must  make  large  use  of 
heredity.  Country  boys  and  girls  are  what  they 
are  because  they  are  the  children  of  country  fathers 
and  mothers.  The  rural  line  is  rarely  broken.  In 
the  city  there  is  a  double  ancestry;  some  of  the 
children  having  an  urban  ancestry  for  many  genera- 
tions, others  being  born  of  parents  recently  trans- 

23 


24       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

planted  to  the  city,  and  others  still  combining  the 
two  strains.  In  the  country  heredity  tends  to  ac- 
centuate the  rural  type.  If  a  rural  peculiarity  is 
developed  it  will  be  perpetuated  and  intensified;  it 
will  not  be  leveled  and  dissipated  as  in  the  city. 
Urban  character,  so  far  as  it  results  from  inherited 
qualities,  will  be  more  fully  standardized;  rural 
character  will  be  peculiar,  inelastic,  tough-fibered — 
in  a  word,  rustic. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  country  children 
have  an  unbroken  line  of  descent  through  countless 
generations  of  rural  folk  reaching  back  to  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden.  Country  people  are  the  typical  human 
species,  urban  folk  being  a  late  and  local  variation. 
Cities  are  exceptional,  and,  in  their  present  magni- 
tude, modern.  The  urban  type,  therefore,  is  less 
deeply  rooted;  it  is  more  plastic.  Human  nature, 
as  a  product  of  ages,  is  found  in  the  country.  We 
cannot  follow  out  the  implications  of  this  evident 
fact;  suffice  it  to  say  that  we  may  look  for  a  rural 
character  of  some  definiteness,  showing  consider- 
able tenacity,  and  retaining  a  kind  of  consistency  in 
many  locations  and  periods.  Here,  at  least,  is  a 
foundation  for  rural  conservatism. 

The  city  has  received  great  accessions  from  the 
country ;  the  people  who  have  removed  from  city  to 
country  are  negligible.  What  is  known  as  the  rural 
exodus  is  a  most  striking  social  phenomenon.  It 
has  wrought  serious  changes  in  the  rural  population. 
More  than  a  process  of  subtraction  is  involved.  If 
three  hundred  people  in  a  community  of  one  thou- 
sand go  elsewhere  they  take  with  them  their  char- 


The  Individual  25 

acters,  and  they  leave  behind  their  old  neighbors 
with  their  peculiarities.  The  average  rural  com- 
munity has  lost  its  people  in  about  this  proportion, 
exceptional  communities  being  reported  whose 
losses  aggregate  six  hundred,  or  even  eight  hundred 
in  one  thousand.  Mere  subtraction  of  qualities 
would  be  alarming,  for  it  is  probable  that  the  vigor- 
ous, the  ambitious,  the  daring  are  chosen  for  re- 
moval ;  but  the  change  in  rural  character  is  really  to 
be  figured  out  as  a  complex  problem  in  biology. 
This  is  a  case  of  selective  breeding.  Had  the  pop- 
ulation remained  intact  marriage  would  have  unified 
its  strata  and  heredity  would  have  carried  the  whole 
mass  of  qualities  to  new  generations.  To  perpetu- 
ate a  species  from  a  part  must  change  its  type. 
Plow  far  the  present  generation  of  boys  and  girls  is 
modified  by  this  selective  process  it  is  impossible  to 
say.  Assuming  that  those  approximating  the  urban 
type  go  to  the  city,  those  who  remain  tend  to  de- 
velop a  more  distinct  rural  type.  It  is  fair  to  sup- 
pose that  this  selection  tends  to  make  the  country 
boys  and  girls,  as  we  find  them  to-day,  as  a  whole 
somewhat  lacking  in  energy,  alertness,  initiative, 
and  vivacity. 

This  conclusion  is  modified  by  at  least  four  con- 
siderations. Economic  pressure  has  forced  out  of 
the  rural  community  great  numbers  of  inferior  per- 
sons, as  well  as  many  of  the  superior  sort.  The 
invasion  of  the  foreigner  adds  new  blood,  and,  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  ordinarily  new  habits  of  in- 
dustry, frugality,  and  primitive  efficiency.  Frontier 
communities  assemble  aggressive,  restless,  and  com- 


26       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

petent  settlers,  being  established  from  seed  sifted 
out  of  the  older  rural  sections.  Selection  itself  may 
be  overborne  by  influences  of  the  times  which  lift 
otherwise  sinking  populations. 

The  degree  of  isolation  is  important  in  the  devel- 
opment of  rural  character.  Isolation  in  itself  is  not 
an  influence ;  it  is  only  the  description  of  conditions 
which  exert  positive  influence,  or  of  conditions  that 
bar  out  positive  influences.  An  isolated  community 
or  family  is  subjected  to  the  forces  of  the  local  en- 
vironment, and  is  cut  off  from  the  influences  of  a 
larger  world.  The  result  of  isolation  is  an  accentua- 
tion of  the  rural  type  as  contrasted  with  the  stand- 
ardized type  of  the  city.  There  is  also  a  tendency 
in  isolated  persons  to  diversify  the  rural  type  by 
response  to  a  great  variety  of  local  conditions. 
There  seems  to  be  a  possibility  of  preserving,  per- 
haps of  originating,  more  human  variants,  filling  the 
whole  range  between  queerness  and  genius,  where 
individuals  are  protected  by  isolation.  In  modern 
conditions  isolation  need  not  be  harmful,  although 
it  is  still  a  serious  disadvantage  in  many  localities. 
It  protects  some  good  qualities,  but  on  the  whole  it 
tends  to  arrest  progress. 

Of  a  different  sort  from  the  contribution  of  hered- 
ity and  selection  and  isolation  to  rural  character  is 
the  influence  of  nature.  This  is  positive  and  im- 
mediate. It  acts  to  the  end  of  life,  but  it  affects 
the  development  of  adolescence.  The  country  has 
an  environment  of  nature ;  the  city  is  artificial,  con- 
ventional, human.  To  be  born  and  bred  in  the  coun- 
try gives  a  closeness  of  contact  with  nature  which 


The  Individual  2.y 

must  have  large  results.  Nature  is  a  stubborn  op- 
ponent, and  she  teaches  by  harsh  lessons.  She 
meets  man  with  rock  and  soil  that  resist  the 
plough.  She  is  pitiless  with  her  exactions,  ruthless 
in  hurling  her  predatory  hosts  upon  the  farmer's 
crops,  inexorable  when  she  decrees  frost  or 
drought  or  storm.  Whoever  will  conquer  her  must 
be  resourceful,  alert,  active.  The  arbitrariness  of 
nature  excites  resentment  at  times,  but  on  the  whole 
it  is  a  most  effective  discipline. 

Incalculable  as  nature  is  in  her  combinations  and 
caprices,  she  is  orderly  in  her  own  intricate  way, 
and  all  her  performances  are  accordant  with  law. 
She  challenges  to  find  out  her  laws,  and  she  prom- 
ises rich  rewards  to  such  as  will  submissively  obey. 
She  trains  to  a  perception  of  cause  and  effect,  and 
she  compels  the  payment  of  a  fixed  price.  She  will 
allow  no  cheating;  she  gives  no  encouragement  to 
smartness.  It  is  not  easy  to  strike  the  balance  be- 
tween country  and  city.  In  the  city  the  contriv- 
ances and  institutions  of  men  are  easily  comprehen- 
sible, so  that  there  is  less  of  baffling  mystery;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  what  men  contrive  and  establish 
allows  rich  profits  to  dishonesty  and  gives  to  the 
tricky  rare  opportunity.  We  shall  not  err  if  we  at- 
tribute to  nature  a  powerful  influence  for  the  vir- 
tues that  make  men  solid,  trustworthy,  and  eflfective. 
And  then  we  must  add  that  many  of  her  laws  are  so 
secret  that  only  highly  trained  men  can  make  head- 
way against  her  seeming  caprices.  All  this  makes 
character,  and  country  boys  and  girls  are  devel- 
oped by  this  experience.     This  influence  of  nature 


28       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

goes  far  to  explain  that  inexhaustible  procession  of 
youth  from  the  country,  emerging  from  obscurity 
in  the  old-time  vigor  and  advancing  to  the  leader- 
ship of  cities  with  familiar  mastery. 

Nature  is  beautiful.  Some  sense  of  wonder  and 
joy  is  awakened  in  country  children,  who  feel  what 
they  do  not  understand  and  cannot  express.  Boys 
and  girls  might  observe  more,  appreciate  more. 
Nature  waits  for  a  generation  of  lovers  who  will 
frankly  confess  their  devotion.  The  coming  age  will 
break  the  stolidity  of  the  rural  habit  and  drive  out 
shame  for  honest  emotion.  Here  is  opportunity 
for  boundless  improvement,  but  can  any  one  affirm 
that  nature  has  offered  her  charm  to  those  who  live 
nearest  her  without  effect? 

Nature  inspires  reverence.  She  makes  the  appeal 
of  authority,  but  she  does  it  worthily.  Those  who 
have  richest  experience  come  to  feel  that  nature  is 
divine,  being  the  manifestation  of  a  personal  pres- 
ence and  the  expression  of  a  real  providence.  De- 
pendent for  daily  and  hourly  favor,  country  people 
are  deeply  religious.  God  is  near  and  accessible  for 
the  trusting  heart. 

The  influence  of  nature  is,  perhaps,  the  strongest 
of  the  many  forces  of  the  rural  environment.  Per- 
sonal forces  in  the  country  are  very  effective.  The 
imitative  boy  or  girl  has  closest  contact  with  a  few 
older  persons.  The  character  of  these  is  vividly 
conceived,  and  distinct  and  sharp  individuality  cuts 
into  plastic  adolescence  like  a  die.  And  there  are 
also  evil  characters  that  spread  sin  like  a  contagion 
in  the  country.    These  may  be  massed  in  groups  or 


The  Individual  29 

gangs,  which  are  less  counteracted  than  in  the  city, 
offering,  it  may  be,  the  only  jolly  fellowship.  So- 
cial institutions  work  differently  in  the  country ; 
they  are  less  highly  organized  and  less  command- 
ing. They  are  at  once  feebler  and  stronger — feebler 
because  of  slender  resources,  stronger  because  of 
closeness  of  personal  contact.  At  least  the  impact 
of  social  forces  is  different  in  city  and  country.  The 
total  influence  tends  to  differentiate  the  rural  and 
urban  type. 

Heredity,  selection,  the  degree  of  isolation,  the 
influence  of  nature,  the  personal  and  social  forces  of 
the  environment  conspire  to  produce  a  rural  type  of 
character  that  is  clearly  distinguishable  from  the 
urban  type,  and  this  difference  must  inevitably  ap- 
pear in  the  adolescent  period.  Add  the  fact  that  in 
the  country  a  single  vocation  molds  the  whole  popu- 
lation, yielding  development,  exciting  discontent,  in- 
spiring attitudes  and  interests  by  its  own  character 
and  fortune.  In  the  general  pursuit  of  agriculture 
there  is  a  ruling  condition  such  as  the  city  does  not 
possess.  Whether  they  love  it  or  hate  it  the  farm 
is  a  portentous  fact  in  the  experience  of  country 
boys  and  girls. 

We  are  convinced  by  such  facts  as  this  survey 
inadequately  summarizes  that  the  individual  with 
which  the  Sunday  school  deals  has  traits  and  ten- 
dencies that  compel  a  wise  pedagogy  to  take  note 
of  them.  It  is  not  expedient  to  standardize  methods 
for  all  schools.  A  commission  for  the  special  study 
of  the  rural  field  is  justifiable,  not  only  because  or- 


so       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

ganization  and  procedure  are  determined  by  the 
smallness  of  the  Sunday  school,  but  also  because 
the  material  out  of  which  the  Sunday  school  is 
built  differs  in  country  and  city. 

We  accept  the  statement  of  one  of  our  corre- 
spondents: "There  are  so  many  phases  of  rural  life 
which  have  determined  the  peculiar  trend  of  the 
rural  mind  that  the  psychology  of  the  country  boy 
and  girl  is  a  study  by  itself."  And  we  approve  also 
the  limitation  urged  by  another  correspondent: 
"There  is  more  difference  between  different  indi- 
viduals than  can  be  assumed  to  exist  between  the 
city  children  as  a  whole,  on  one  hand,  and  country 
children  as  a  whole,  on  the  other."  We  do  not  be- 
lieve that  country  boys  and  girls  are  so  deeply 
stamped  with  rural  characters  that  if  they  remove 
to  the  city  they  cannot  ordinarily  take  on  the  urban 
traits.  We  do  not  suggest  any  finality  nor  fatality, 
but  only  the  practical  wisdom  of  adapting  instruc- 
tion to  existing  tendencies  and  of  attempting  to 
supplement  where  the  rural  training  has  left  the 
character  one-sided  or  defective. 

We  pass  now  from  theory  to  fact.  In  order  to 
determine  what  differences  distinguish  country  boys 
and  girls  from  city  boys  and  girls  we  sent  a  ques- 
tionnaire to  experts  of  various  sorts  who  were  pre- 
sumed to  know  the  subject  at  first  hand.  This  was 
somewhat  widely  distributed,  but  comparatively  few 
replies  were  received,  probably  because  of  the  nov- 
elty and  difficulty  of  the  questions.  We  have  re- 
ceived  replies   from   forty-four   persons,   of  whom 


The  Individual  3^ 

thirteen  are  educators;  eleven  State  or  County- 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  secretaries; 
five  ministers;  and  the  other  persons  related  to  the 
problem  in  various  v^^ays.  We  disclaim  any  au- 
thority for  the  testimony  of  these  men  except  what 
belongs  to  their  opinion.  We  think  that  their  judg- 
ment, sitting  as  a  jury,  may  be  a  safe  guide  in  the 
shaping  of  policy  and  method.  It  v^as  not  our  pur- 
pose to  test  boys  and  girls,  but  to  ascertain  the 
views  of  careful  observers  who  have  had  oppor- 
tunity to  know  in  what  way  adolescence  develops  in 
country  and  city.  We  record  here  a  caution  from 
Prof.  Edwin  D.  Starbuck,  and  we  concede  the  pe- 
culiar value  of  material  gathered  as  he  suggests. 
For  our  purpose,  nevertheless,  we  consider  the  ma- 
ture judgment  of  workers  and  scholars  concerning 
boys  and  girls  of  more  significance  than  the  results 
of  any  self-analysis  of  immature  minds,  that  could 
not  possibly  comprehend  either  their  own  distinc- 
tion or  the  multifarious  influences  and  relations  in 
the  mesh  of  which  they  have  been  fashioned.  Pro- 
fessor Starbuck  writes: 

"If  you  will  allow  a  confession,  it  is  that  the  more 
I  have  worked  at  the  questionnaire  business  myself, 
the  more  I  am  convinced  that  questions  which  ask 
for  opinions  about  things  can  never  catch  up  gen- 
uine psychological  stuff.  If,  on  the  contrary,  you 
could  get  among  the  country  boys  and  girls,  gain 
their  confidence,  and  secure  from  a  hundred  of  them 
their  personal  confessions,  supplemented  by  careful 
observations  of  the  same  number  of  city  boys  and 
girls,  you  would  be  obtaining  real  psychological 
data." 


3^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

We  make  no  claim  that  we  have  collected  psycho- 
logical data.  Our  observation  being  limited  and  our 
judgment  fallible,  we  have  tried  to  check  error  by 
consulting  as  many  observers  as  could  be  easily 
reached. 


Digest  of  Replies  to  Questionnaire 

I.  What  differences  have  you  observed  between 
country  boys  and  girls  and  city  boys  and  girls  in 
the  adolescent  period? 

The  replies  are  chiefly  significant  from  their  di- 
versity. About  half  of  our  correspondents  passed 
over  the  question,  thinking  it  sufficiently  covered 
by  their  answers  to  the  second  question.  It  was 
intended  that  under  this  head  free  range  should  be 
given  for  original  comment.  It  is  as  if  in  confer- 
ence one  and  another  had  spoken  with  but  little 
repetition.  The  composite  picture  may  be  sketched 
thus :  Country  boys  and  girls  mature  slowly ;  they 
are  physically  strong;  they  are  thoughtful  and 
stable  in  character;  they  are  less  restless  and  ner- 
vous. But  they  may  be  timid ;  moody,  through  iso- 
lation ;  awkward  physically  and  socially.  They  are 
self-reliant,  resourceful,  and  individualistic,  but  rev- 
erent, religious,  and  easily  guided.  They  are  more 
romantic,  more  idealistic,  more  conscientious.  They 
are  defective  in  culture,  but  superior  in  things  fun- 
damental. City  adolescents  have  more  self-assertion 
and  more  conceit.  In  this  complex  characterization 
the  agreement  seems  to  be  that  the  material,  raw 
and  crude  as  it  is,  possesses  virility  and  stability, 


The  Individual  33 

and  that  rural  adolescence  is  specially  promising  by 
reason  of  the  open  mind  and  the  idealistic  spirit. 
II.     Add  your  opinion  on  the  following  points : 

(a)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  inclined  to 
industry? 

Yes,  2y\  no,  3;  doubtful,  6;  more  industrious  by 
necessity,  but  not  more  inclined,  7 ;  more  industrious 
except  in  villages,  i. 

The  agreement  is  that  boys  and  girls  on  farms  are 
more  habituated  to  industry,  and  the  preponderant 
opinion  is  that  this  results  normally  in  a  real  inter- 
est in  work  and  a  genuine  love  for  it.  To  this  is 
added  the  caution  that  the  village  must  be  consid- 
ered by  itself. 

(b)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  serious 
and  ambitious? 

Yes,  27 ;  no,  3 ;  doubtful,  7 ;  more  serious  but  not 
more  ambitious,  6;  more  ambitious  for  the  unusual, 
I. 

The  agreement  is  that  they  are  more  serious  and 
more  ambitious,  with  the  reservation  that  a  few 
think  otherwise,  and  that  some  others  recognize 
the  peculiar  vigor  of  ambition  in  city  adolescents 
of  the  superior  sort.  With  this  comes  the  sugges- 
tion that  seriousness  may  be  mere  introspection 
and  self-pity. 

(c)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  silent  and 
disinclined  to  talk? 

Yes,  28;  no,  3;  doubtful,  5;  to  strangers  only,  6; 
in  presence  of  adults,  i ;  in  hill  countries,  I. 


34       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sundae/  School 

There  is  general  recognition  of  the  habit  of 
silence,  with  the  discovery  on  the  part  of  some  ob- 
servers that  country  boys  and  girls  talk  freely  upon 
acquaintance  and  by  themselves.  This  means  that 
there  is  failure  to  talk  in  consequence  of  shyness 
or  lack  of  convention  or  the  absence  of  encourage- 
ment from  older  persons.  One  suspects  an  undue 
estimate  of  the  virtue  of  silence  on  the  part  of  young 
people  in  the  country  home,  especially  on  the  farms. 

(d)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  interested 
in  play? 

Yes,  4;  no,  15;  doubtful,  9;  yes,  but  no  chance,  2; 
yes,  but  ignorant  of  organized  play,  10;  country 
play  more  complicated,  i ;  different  in  expression, 
I ;  more  inventive,  i ;  more  natural,  i. 

The  agreement  plainly  is  that  there  is  no  lack  of 
the  play  instinct  in  the  country,  but  a  serious  in- 
feriority in  the  interest  that  develops  by  cultivation 
and  practice. 

(e)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  observant? 
Yes,  16;  no,  12;  doubtful,  10;  yes,  of  nature,  2; 

yes,  of  natural  objects,  not  social  forms,  i ;  not  of 
special  things,  i  ;  not  of  details  and  things  outside 
of  w^ork,  I ;  different  in  expression,  i. 

There  is  a  slight  preponderance  of  opinion  in 
favor  of  the  more  exact  observation  of  country  boys 
and  girls,  with  the  suggestion  that  this  is  partly 
a  discipline  of  the  environment  and  of  rural  activi- 
ties. 

(f)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  slower  in  mental 
action  ? 


The  Individual  35 

Yes,  25;  no,  7;  doubtful,  4;  in  unfamiliar  lines,  2; 
in  early  years  only,  2 ;  except  when  excited,  i ;  more 
deliberate,  not  slower  in  comprehension,  i ;  not  in 
practical  things,  I ;  differ  in  expression,  I. 

A  minority  makes  a  discriminating  protest  against 
the  common  view  that  rural  adolescents  are  slower 
in  mental  action. 

(g)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  deferential 
to  authority? 

Yes,  33;  no,  4;  doubtful,  4;  yes,  with  crude  re- 
bellion, I ;  no,  except  when  it  is  policy,  i ;  differ 
in  expression,  i. 

There  is  only  a  faint  protest  against  the  general 
verdict  that  they  are  more  deferential. 

(h)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  self-cen- 
tered and  self-willed? 

Yes,  19;  no,  16;  doubtful,  5;  more  self-centered 
but  not  more  self-willed,  3 ;  no,  but  more  self-reliant, 
I. 

The  replies  are  entirely  indecisive. 

(i)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  easily  in- 
fluenced? 

Yes,  13;  no,  15;  doubtful,  9;  yes,  by  right  per- 
sons, 3 ;  yes,  by  special  appeals,  i ;  not  at  first,  3. 

Opinions  about  equally  divided. 

(j)     Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  emotional? 

Yes,  5;  no,  26;  doubtful,  9;  more  elemental,  i; 
of  finer  sensibility,  I ;  do  not  show  emotion,  i ;  not 
keyed  to  so  high  nervous  pitch,  i. 

The  common  view  that  rural  adolescents  are  more 


36       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

stolid  is  confirmed  with  recognition  by  some  ob- 
servers of  a  peculiar  richness  in  depths  beyond  cus- 
tomary expression. 

(k)  Are  country  boys  and  girls  more  conscien- 
tious? 

Yes,  28;  no,  5;  doubtful,  10;  by  local  code  only, 
I. 

The  preponderating  opinion  is  clear  in  favor  of 
their  greater  conscientiousness. 

III.  Does  the  series  of  adolescent  changes  as 
traced  by  modern  psychology  apply  to  country  boys 
and  girls  in  the  same  manner  as  to  city  boys  and 
girls? 

Yes,  17 ;  no,  5  ;  doubtful,  5 ;  according  to  responses 
called  for,  5 ;  less  marked,  3 ;  later,  i ;  later  and  less 
marked,  2 ;  periods  differ,  i ;  stronger  restraints  in 
the  country,  i ;  less  stimulated  by  social  environ- 
ment, I ;  more  exceptional  cases,  i ;  expression  dif- 
fers, I ;  sentimental  tendency  is  earlier,  i. 

On  the  whole  the  verdict  is  that  the  series  of 
changes  is  the  same  in  country  and  city  so  far  as  it 
depends  upon  a  natural  order  of  development,  but 
that  it  is  modified  by  the  rural  environment  as  it  is 
altered  in  other  ways  by  the  urban  environment. 

IV.  Is  this  course  of  development  retarded  in 
country  boys  and  girls  in  comparison  with  city  boys 
and  girls? 

Yes,  21;  no,  5;  doubtful,  10;  to  some  extent,  2; 
in  some  particulars,  i ;  nearer  the  normal,  i ;  re- 
tarded in  pre-adolescence,  hastened  in  post-adoles- 
cence, I ;  begins  earlier,  lasts  longer,  i ;  manifesta- 


The  Individual  37 

tion  is  different,  i ;  social  and  play  phases  are  late,  i. 
A  large  majority  believes  that  adolescent  changes 
are  retarded  in  the  country,  but  this  varies  accord- 
ing to  the  conditions  that  act  as  causes. 

V.  Is  the  religious  life  marked  by  the  crisis  of 
conversion  in  the  country  to  a  greater  extent  than 
in  the  city? 

Yes,  17;  no,  10;  doubtful,  14;  no,  because  the 
stimuli  are  v^^eak,  but  there  is  more  latent  religion ; 
yes,  because  of  revival  traditions,  but  no  difference 
virhen  Decision  Day  is  used;  in  some  places.  Each 
of  last  three  replies,  i. 

The  ansv^^ers  are  indecisive.  Evidently  the  expe- 
rience of  conversion  depends  upon  environment  and 
teaching,  so  that  location  in  city  or  country  of  itself 
has  little  influence.  Probably  the  religious  revival 
is  more  general  in  the  country. 

VI.  Does  the  gang  spirit  prevail  in  country  boys 
and  girls  so  as  to  be  considered  and  used  as  is  the 
case  with  city  boys  and  girls  ? 

Yes,  10 ;  no,  23 ;  doubtful,  i ;  yes,  in  boys,  but 
groups  vary  according  to  age,  i ;  yes,  in  small  tov^ns 
and  villages,  2;  yes,  but  conditions  are  unfavor- 
able, 7. 

As  a  matter  under  observation  the  gang  spirit 
seems  to  be  less ;  as  a  tendency  manifest  according 
to  opportunity  for  association  the  gang  spirit  may 
be  assumed  in  the  country. 

VII.  Is  discontent  with  the  farm  and  desire  for 
the  city  a  phase  of  adolescent  ferment,  confusion, 
and  expansion  in  such  a  sense  that  adolescent  rest- 


38       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

lessness  is  a  significant  contributing  cause  of  the 
rural  exodus? 

Yes,  14;  no,  8;  doubtful,  4;  only  in  later  adoles- 
cence, I ;  hard  conditions  in  country  main  factor,  9; 
attraction  of  city  chief  influence,  4 ;  desire  for  change 
and  ambition  fundamental,  3;  lack  of  play  in  the 
country  important,  i. 

A  considerable  minority  recognize  the  contribu- 
tion of  adolescent  changes  to  the  restless  spirit. 
These  alone  would  have  little  or  no  effect.  Com- 
bining with  rural  repulsions  and  urban  attractions 
they  tend  to  increase  the  movement  cityward. 

VIII.  Treat  in  your  own  way  any  distinctive 
traits  of  country  boys  and  girls,  or  any  peculiar 
conditions  in  their  lives  that  call  for  special  methods 
in  the  Sunday  school. 

We  should  take  note  of  (a)  smallness  of  schools ; 
(b)  insufficient  social  opportunities;  (c)  conversa- 
tional slowness ;  (d)  the  rural  opportunity  for  unin- 
terrupted thought  and  intimate  knowledge  of  human 
nature.  Special  suggestions  are  (a)  magnify  phases 
of  life  in  the  larger  world,  such  as  heroism,  patriot- 
ism, citizenship ;  (b)  make  larger  and  more  inclusive 
plans;  (c)  exalt  distinctly  religious  training;  (d) 
give  more  attention  to  youngest  children ;  (e)  stim- 
ulate discussion ;  (f)  repress  crudities. 

IX.  What  modifications  of  the  Sunday  school 
are  required  by  the  rural  environment  in  so  far  as 
it  tends  to  develop  boys  and  girls  of  a  distinctive 
type  ? 

(a)  The  rural  Sunday  school  needs  a  new  cur- 
riculum of  study. 


The  Individual  39 

Truths  of  religion  must  be  interpreted  In  terms 
of  rural  life. 

Problems  arising  from  life  and  surroundings  in 
the  country. 

Literature  and  teaching  with  rural  illustrations. 

Contentment  with  rural  life. 

Less  of  the  abstract,  formal,  and  mystical. 

Biblical  treatment  of  economic  and  social  life. 

Lessons  in  cooperation. 

Appreciation  of  nature. 

(b)  There  is  reiterated  demand  for  better  pro- 
visions for  social  life: 

By  the  organized  class  with  social  opportunities. 
By  athletics  and  community  games. 
By  training  for  social  service. 
By  sociological  instruction. 
By  personal  efforts  to  meet  individual  reticence. 
By  encouraging  sociability  and  organizing  social 
life. 

(c)  Many  suggestions  recognize  the  special 
needs  in  the  country  of  standard  improvements.     ^ 

Better  pedagogy  and  better  teaching. 

The  graded  Sunday  school.  Avoidance  of  hetero- 
genous groups. 

Making  programs  for  the  year. 

A  missionary  department. 

Monthly  councils  and  committee  methods. 

The  training  class  for  teachers. 

Recognition  of  patriotic  days  and  great  events. 

Use  of  pictures. 

A  broader  hospitality  for  varied  types  of  char- 
acter. 


40       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

More  appreciation  and  use  of  the  resident  pas- 
torate. 

More  preparation  of  lessons  at  home. 
Male  teachers  for  adolescent  boys. 
Christian  personal  leadership. 

Opinions  Worth  Preserving 

"It  is  well  to  have  a  high  standard  and  place  it 
before  all  our  schools.  When  the  country  child  be- 
comes aroused,  there  is  no  limit  to  its  attainment." 

"Old  folks  are  so  humdrum  in  the  country  that 
youth  finds  it  hard  to  put  up  with  them." 

"I  suggest  an  effort  to  get  bigger  areas  cen- 
tralized, with  one  big  church,  a  parish  house,  an 
athletic  field,  and  some  supervision  besides  that  of 
the  minister." 

"The  farm  must  give  up  some  portion  of  the  time 
to  recreation,  and  the  cravings  of  youth  for  a  larger 
life  must  be  met." 

"I  believe  that  the  same  lessons,  the  same  class 
organization  that  succeed  in  the  city  will  succeed  in 
the  country.  The  untrained  leaders  and  the  small 
numbers  in  many  country  Sunday  schools  make  up- 
to-date  methods  difficult  or  impossible  to  apply,  but 
fundamentally  the  boy  is  not  different." 

"The  Sunday  school  calls  too  much  attention  to 
subjective  conditions  and  makes  countrv  boys  too 
conscious  of  their  own  souls.  A  healthy  boy  should 
know  no  more  about  his  soul  than  about  his  liver. 
He  should  be  taught  a  religion  of  action,  of  achieve- 
ment, of  production." 

"If  proper  recognition  were  given  the  desire  to 
reach  out  into  the  new,  we  should  not  have  the  de- 
sire for  new  things  culminating  in  so  many  of  the 
boys  leaving  the  farm." 


The  Individual  41 

"It  is  an  amazing  spectacle  to  see  how  discon- 
tented country  boys  are.  Long  days,  monotony, 
etc.,  drive  boys  out." 

*'There  is  great  need  of  a  country  teacher  and 
social  worker  combined  in  one  person." 

"I  believe  very  strongly  that  in  day  school  and  in 
Sunday  school  it  is  of  absolute  importance  to  make 
our  boys  and  girls  feel  that  they  are  part  of  a  great 
world-movement,  and  that  their  life  and  their  char- 
acter affect  life  everywhere." 

"I  should  like  to  see  a  fifteen-minute  intermission 
between  the  church  and  Sunday  school  sessions, 
that  ample  opportunity  may  be  given  for  social  in- 
tercourse." 

"The  finer  feelings  of  the  country  youth  need 
finer  treatment." 

"The  Sunday  school  needs  an  appeal  along  nor- 
mal and  spiritual  lines  to  the  independent  convic- 
tions and  untrammeled  ideals  of  the  boys  and  girls 
of  the  country,  who  need  not  restraining,  but  un- 
loosing and  developing." 

"The  Sunday  school  needs  to  use  its  outdoor  op- 
portunities in  study  and  social  life.  The  sweep  of 
God  in  the  big  life  of  the  country  adolescent  is  an 
immense  advantage  over  the  commercialized  and 
hemmed-in  life  of  the  city  adolescent." 

"A  country  boy  thrives  under  the  advantages  of 
his  disadvantages,  and  the  city  boy  suffers  under 
the  disadvantages  of  his  advantages.  In  the  devel- 
opment of  the  boy,  I  feel  that  he  should  be  natu- 
ralized, then  humanized.  Association  with  nature 
makes  one  frank,  open,  honest.  After  the  boy  has 
acquired  some  of  these  elementary  virtues,  then  he 
is  fitted  to  go  to  the  city  to  become  humanized.  I 
think  this  contrast  to  a  certain  extent  is  true — that 
religion  is  of  the  country;  Christianity  of  the  city. 
Naturalization  is  of  the  country;  humanization  of 
the  city.    The  home  life  is  of  the  country;  society 


42       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

life  of  the  city.  The  raw  material  is  of  the  coun- 
try ;  the  manufactured  product  of  the  city." 

"Taken  out  of  his  habitat,  the  city  boy  is  quite 
apt  to  be  helpless.  He  knows  a  good  deal,  but  has 
learned  to  do  so  little  that  he  is  handicapped  when 
thrown  on  his  own  resources.  The  country  boy  has 
little  done  for  him,  and  is  left  so  much  to  his  own 
initiative  in  field  and  forest  that  he  becomes  a  man 
in  judgment  somewhat  earlier  than  his  city  cousin." 

"In  the  case  of  the  city  boy  the  plethora  of 
sights,  sounds  and  human  stimuli  check  the  work  of 
the  imagination ;  the  reverse  is  largely  true  of  the 
country  boy." 

"The  movement  cityward  is  almost  wholly  an 
economic  movement.  As  economic  conditions  in 
the  country  are  improved,  the  exodus  is  checked. 
To-day  there  is  a  large  drift  of  country  boys  to  the 
agricultural  colleges  and  back  to  the  farms." 

"The  adolescent  development  begins  earlier  with 
country  boys  and  girls,  but  it  lasts  longer,  and  each 
phase  of  the  development  is  prolonged.  For  ex- 
ample, one  can  keep  together  boys  and  girls  of 
widely  varying  ages  in  the  country  better  than  in 
the  city." 

"Individual  prowess,  individual  success,  yes,  and 
individual  failure,  are  elements  of  life  that  the  coun- 
tryman understands.  The  country  needs  to  develop 
a  social  consciousness,  and  at  no  time  can  this  be 
done  so  well  as  in  the  period  of  adolescence  when 
conditions  are  psychologically  right  for  such  devel- 
opment. The  rural  Sunday  school  should  more  and 
more  emphasize  the  social  gospel.  The  Sunday 
school  should  be  a  cooperative  social  body,  and  each 
class  should  place  special  emphasis  upon  socializing 
influences.  The  spirit  of  cooperation  should  take 
the  place  of  the  old  spirit  of  individual  competi- 
tion.    Efforts  should  be  made  to  develop  a  group 


The  Individual  43 

consciousness  to  replace  the  old  individual  con- 
sciousness." 

"The  boys  in  the  country  are  better  developed 
physically  than  the  boys  in  the  city;  boys  in  the 
city  are,  perhaps,  a  little  more  agile,  a  little  more 
graceful,  but  not  so  strong,  not  so  self-dependent, 
not  so  independent.  A  well-trained  and  well-edu- 
cated boy  in  the  city  is  usually  far  in  advance  at 
eighteen  of  the  country  boy  who  has  had  fair 
chances  at  education.  But  in  general  the  country 
boy  knows  more  than  the  city  boy,  is  acquainted 
with  more  things,  has  much  more  valuable  general 
knowledge,  not  upon  society,  nor  politics,  nor  his- 
tory, but  upon  the  doings  of  life  in  the  world  of  na- 
ture. He  is  less  graceful  than  the  city  boy,  and  is, 
therefore,  likely  in  his  presence  to  seem  a  little  awk- 
ward and  to  appear  somewhat  shy.  It  is  not  shy- 
ness, but  only  a  disinclination  to  make  a  fool  of 
himself.  To  him  the  ordinary  city  boy  is  enough 
of  a  fool,  and  he  has  no  desire  to  make  a  fool  of 
himself.  The  boy  in  the  city  is  better  developed 
socially,  but  the  boy  in  the  country  has  developed 
more  selfhood  than  the  boy  in  the  town.  He  has 
been  thrown  back  upon  himself  at  every  turn,  has 
studied  himself,  and,  though  perhaps  he  has  had  no 
guide  in  that  study,  he  has  an  unconscious  knowl- 
edge of  himself  which  the  city  boy  seldom  pos- 
sesses. He  is  usually  more  sober,  more  steady, 
more  reliable,  less  quick  and  active." 

"Before  the  age  of  fourteen  the  business  of  the 
country  Sunday  school  teacher  is  to  keep  the  boys 
interested  in  the  Bible,  the  story  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  in  the  songs  and  hymns  that  tell  the  story. 
From  fourteen  to  eighteen  what  the  country  boy 
and  girl  need  is  to  be  'personally  conducted'  to 
themselves  and  God  by  some  one  a  little  older  than 
themselves  who  understands  them  and  is  interested 
in  them  and  will  give  portions  of  his  time  to  them, 


44       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

who  will  meet  them  individually  and  socially  and 
will  see  to  it,  before  they  get  through,  that  they 
have  laid  hold  upon  God.  There  are  thousands  of 
things  that  can  be  done  by  a  bright  young  pastor, 
by  some  teacher,  or  by  some  devoted  man  of 
younger  years  who  will  live  with  the  boys,  play 
with  them,  meet  with  them  socially.  The  ideal  sit- 
uation is  when  a  young  married  man  and  his  wife 
give  themselves  socially  to  that  group  of  young 
folks  until  they  have  won  them." 

'The  type  of  inducements  offered  by  the  average 
rural  Sunday  school,  considering  the  school  as  a 
whole,  or  the  Avork  of  the  teachers,  is,  in  my  judg- 
ment, absolutely  divorced  from  the  real  interests  of 
the  rural  youth.  There  is  nothing  there  which  these 
boys  and  girls  really  care  about.  It  is  my  firm  be- 
lief that,  if  vital  connection  can  be  made  in  any 
Sunday  school  between  the  things  for  which  the 
Sunday  school  stands  and  the  real  interests  of  the 
young  men  and  women,  there  will  be  no  difficulty 
in  holding  them  in  the  school." 


The  Personnel  of  the  Opinions 

The  names  of  our  correspondents  will  indicate  the 
representative  value  of  their  replies. 

Edward  P.  St,  John,  Professor,  School  of  Relig- 
ious Pedagogy,  Hartford,  Conn. 

E.  E.  Reed,  President,  Lenox  College,  Hopkinton, 
Iowa. 

E.  N.  Davenport,  Dean  and  Director,  College  of 
Agriculture,  University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  111. 

C.  B.  Robertson,  Professor,  School  of  Education, 
Pittsburgh  University. 


The  Individual  45 

R.  D.  Emerson,  Professor  of  Rural  Education, 
University  of  Missouri. 

C.  C.  Kohl,  Professor  of  Education,  Mount  Hol- 
yoke  College,  South  Hadley,  Mass. 

George  E.  Vincent,  President,  University  of  Min- 
nesota. 

Mason  E.  Stone,  Superintendent  of  Education  of 
Vermont. 

R.  Watson  Cooper,  President,  Upper  Iowa  Uni- 
versity. 

Rovillus  R.  Rogers,  Superintendent  of  Schools, 
Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

Henry  F.  Cope,  General  Secretary,  Religious  Ed- 
ucation Association. 

E.  E.  Balcomb,  Professor,  State  Normal  and  In- 
dustrial College,  Greensboro,  N.  C. 

Rev.  C.  K.  Powell,  Field  Representative,  Presby- 
terian Home  Missions  in  Northern  Colorado. 

Rev.  Margaret  B.  Barnard,  Rowe,  Mass. 

Rev.  J.  O.  Ashenhurst,  Author  of  "The  Day  of 
the  Country  Church." 

Rev.  J.  N.  Pardee,  Bolton,  Mass. 

Rev.  Joseph  J.  Erstine,  Redwood  Falls,  Minn. 

E.  W.  Halpenny,  General  Secretary,  Ontario  Sun- 
day School  Association. 

Mrs.  George  O.  Pratt,  Rural  Secretary,  Wayne 
Co.,  Mich. 

Miss  Carrie  B.  Wasson,  Rural  Social  Worker, 
Sanborn,  N.  Y. 

Howard  Hubbell,  State  Secretary  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
Wisconsin,  County  Work. 


4^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

William  D.  McRae,  State  Secretary  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
New  Jersey,  County  Work. 

Fred  M.  Hill,  State  Secretary  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  New 
York,  County  Work. 

J.  H.  Engle,  General  Secretary,  Kansas  Sunday 
School  Association. 

George  A.  Joplin,  General  Secretary,  Kentucky 
Sunday  School  Association. 

T.  N.  Carver,  Professor  of  Economics,  Harvard 
University. 

John  C.  Carman,  General  Secretary,  South  Caro- 
lina Sunday  School  Association. 

D.  W.  Wallace,  Alliance,  Neb. 

Edwin  D.  Starbuck,  Professor  of  Philosophy  and 
Psychology,  State  University  of  Iowa. 

Summary  of  Digest 

The  digest  of  the  replies  to  our  questions  is  an 
attempt  to  condense  the  entire  expression  of  our 
correspondents  without  coloration  from  the  views  of 
the  committee.  After  careful  study  of  the  replies 
and  the  digest  of  them,  Dr.  Hubbell  expressed  his 
personal  judgment  in  the  following  statement,  with 
which  the  other  members  of  the  committee  agree 
substantially : 

I.  Country  boys  are,  as  a  rule,  more  reserved 
than  those  in  the  city.  They  are  slower  of  devel- 
opment and  more  likely  to  prefer  solitude.  In  some 
fields  they  are  more  conscientious,  but  that  is 
largely  a  matter  of  education. 

II.  Country  boys  are: 


The  Individual  47 

(a)  More  inclined  to  industry  from  force  of  cir- 
cumstances. 

(b)  More  serious,  more  ambitious,  only  when 
they  have  been  specially  kindled.  The  city  boy  will 
more  quickly  decide  upon  his  life  work  and  take 
steps  to  begin  it. 

(c)  The  country  boy  is  more  silent  and  disin- 
clined to  talk  except  when  he  is  well  acquainted. 

(d)  The  native  interest  in  play  is  about  the  same 
in  both  cases, 

(e)  The  city  boy  is  much  more  observant;  the 
country  boy  more  thoughtful.  There  is  a  great  need 
to  train  the  country  boy  in  observation.  He  must 
be  taught  to  do  many  things  consciously,  which  he 
certainly  can  do  well  when  his  attention  is  called 
to  them. 

(f)  The  country  boy  is  slower  in  mental  action, 
but  more  likely  to  obtain  satisfactory  results  when 
he  applies  his  mind. 

(g)  The  best  class  of  boys  in  country  or  city  are 
deferential  to  authority,  but  the  city  boy  knows  bet- 
ter how  far  he  may  go  in  opposition  to  it. 

(h)  The  country  boy  may  be  more  self-centered, 
but  is  not  more  self-willed. 

(i)  The  ease  with  which  either  may  be  influ- 
enced is  a  matter  of  temperament.  At  certain  ages 
the  country  boy  because  of  his  narrow  range  of 
knowledge  may  be  more  easily  influenced. 

(j)  The  country  boy  is  more  intense  in  feeling, 
due  to  his  quieter  and  more  thoughtful  life,  but 
probably  shows  emotion  a  little  less. 

(k)  Conscientiousness  is  perhaps  a  little  strong- 
er as  a  feeling  with  a  country  boy,  but  he  is  often 
untaught  in  its  use. 

III.  Adolescent  changes  apply  to  country  boys 
in  much  the  same  manner  as  to  city  boys  as  the 
period  is  somewhat  prolonged  with  the  country  boy. 

IV.  The  course  of  the  development  of  adoles- 


4^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

cence  is  certainly  retarded  in  country  boys  as  com- 
pared with  city  boys. 

V.  The  religious  life  is  marked  by  the  crisis  of 
conversion  quite  often  in  the  country  and  the  small 
town.  Perhaps  this  is  frequently  due  to  the  tradi- 
tion of  conversion  which  still  obtains  in  the  coun- 
try. 

VI.  The  gang  spirit,  or  spirit  of  the  crowd,  pre- 
vails less  among  country  boys  because  there  is  less 
opportunity  for  it.  It  is  much  seen  among  city  boys 
and  in  the  larger  towns  and  villages. 

VII.  The  discontent  for  the  farm  and  desire  for 
the  city  are  due  almost  entirely  to  the  economic 
stress,  to  the  monotony,  and  to  the  smaller  oppor- 
tunities afforded  by  rural  life  under  present  condi- 
tions. 

VIII.  In  all  Sunday  schools  the  children  in  the 
adolescent  period  should  receive  much  more  definite 
attention  in  the  way  of  training  the  moral  judg- 
ment. The  Sunday  school  exercises  should  often 
give  to  the  student  an  opportunity  for  conference 
on  the  questions  of  right  doing.  The  development 
of  the  social  consciousness  is  one  of  the  distinct 
obligations  of  the  Sunday  schools,  and  there  should 
be  opportunities  provided  for  the  development  of 
the  social  nature. 

IX.  No  modification  of  the  Sunday  school 
should  be  made  with  the  purpose  of  developing  a 
distinctive  rural  type.  Country  boys  should  be 
trained  to  become  good  men,  versatile,  useful,  and 
effective.  Many  of  them  may  find  their  future 
homes  in  the  city.  On  this  point  President  Cooper 
rightly  says : 

"What  we  chiefly  need  in  our  country  schools  is 
better  teachers;  and  w^hat  we  chiefly  need  in  our 
country  Sunday  schools  is  better  Sunday  school 
teachers.  This  is  especially  true  for  the  ages  before 
fourteen.     Before  the  age  of  fourteen  the  business 


The  Individual  49 

of  the  country  Sunday  school  is  to  keep  the  boys  in- 
terested in  the  Bible,  the  story  of  Jesus  Christ,  in 
song,  hymn,  etc.,  etc.  From  fourteen  to  eighteen  what 
the  country  boy  and  girl  both  need  is  to  be  'per- 
sonally conducted'  to  themselves  and  God  by  some 
one  a  little  older  than  themselves,  who  understands 
them  and  is  interested  in  them  and  will  give  a  por- 
tion of  his  time  to  them." 

In  a  word,  the  necessary  condition  for  country 
Sunday  schools  is  a  teacher  who  is  a  friend  a  little 
further  on  in  the  way  of  life  and  will  give  to  the 
boys  his  time,  thought  and  personal  inspiration ; 
such  a  man  can  do  them  untold  good  and  will  bind 
them  to  himself  in  a  most  helpful  and  successful 
way. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  religious  life,  Deci- 
sion Day  is  one  of  the  most  important  features  to 
be  regularly  included  in  the  plans  for  conducting 
the  rural  Sunday  school. 

There  could  be  great  teaching  advantages,  and 
particularly  the  development  of  the  right  type  of 
social  consciousness  by  the  wise  use  of  games, 
pageants,  play  festivals,  and  historic  celebrations. 

Several  of  our  friends  are  opposed  to  the  mystical 
element  in  religion  for  country  life.  This  seems  a 
mistake.  It  is  well  that  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  moral  life  should  be  carefully  set  forth  and 
that  the  moral  judgment  should  be  carefully  trained, 
but  the  country  lends  itself  with  special  readiness 
to  the  development  of  the  spiritual,  and  the  mystical 
element  in  religion  should  find  here  a  great  field  of 
practical  service,  making  life  rich,  hopeful,  and 
happy. 

Final  Recommendations 

From  the  mass  of  suggestions  we  have  gathered, 
and  from  our  own  o'bservation  and  reflection,  we 


50       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

single  out  for  final  emphasis  the  following  recom- 
mendations : 

1.  On  the  ground  of  distinctive  qualities  of  char- 
acter and  modes  of  mental  action  in  country  boys 
and  girls,  we  advise  an  adaptation  of  pedagogical 
method  that  shall  take  note  especially  of  the  deeper 
thoughtfulness,  the  slower  mental  movement,  the 
habit  of  silence,  and  the  spirit  of  independence. 

2.  Because  of  the  retardation  of  the  chief  adol- 
escence crises,  and  the  traditional  power  of  the 
revival  in  the  country,  we  advise  a  patient  but  force- 
ful use  of  a  wise  and  careful  evangelism,  to  the  end 
that  the  latent  spirituality  may  be  awakened  and 
moral  and  religious  decision  secured. 

3.  The  less  prevalent  gang  spirit  and  the  conse- 
quent individualism  suggest  the  utmost  use  of  per- 
sonal association  and  personal  influence  through 
every  kind  of  contact  of  teacher  and  pupils. 

4.  There  is  special  need  of  fostering  the  social 
spirit  and  training  in  social  facility,  and  therefore 
there  should  be  much  additional  provision  for  social 
life  outside  of  the  Sunday  school  itself.  We  call 
special  attention  to  the  social  opportunity  in  the 
organized  class  or  group  of  classes,  and  we  suggest 
that  a  small  Sunday  school  may  foster  and  super- 
vise the  social  life  of  its  boys  and  girls  through  its 
own  organization,  rather  than  surrender  this  re- 
sponsibility to  independent  clubs  and  societies  that 
needlessly  complicate  and  burden  the  social  struc- 
ture. 

5.  The  urgent  need  of  more  ample  instruction  in 
social  service  and  the  problems  of  society  is  nowhere 


The  Individual  5^ 

more  evident  than  in  the  country,  where  the  sim- 
plicity of  social  relations  makes  their  recognition 
critical.  The  country  Sunday  school  may  use  bibli- 
cal material  with  peculiar  profit,  especially  in  the 
Mosaic  laws,  the  prophetic  program,  and  the  social 
teachings  of  Jesus,  since  the  historical  background 
is  everywhere  distinctly  rural. 

6.  The  discontent  and  restlessness  of  country 
boys  and  girls  in  their  life  on  the  farm  call  for  a 
new  policy  in  the  Sunday  school,  definitely  con- 
ceived, prosecuted  through  an  adapted  literature, 
by  which  there  may  be  a  more  fruitful  teaching  of 
the  love  of  nature,  the  opportunities  of  the  farm,  the 
higher  ideals  for  home  and  neighborhood,  the  ap- 
preciation of  local  institutions,  and  the  happy  way 
of  living. 

7.  We  protest  against  all  systems  and  methods 
that  recognize  or  perpetuate  provincialism.  We 
would  train  country  boys  and  girls  for  citizenship 
of  the  world  according  to  universal  standards,  adapt- 
ing the  common  Christianity  to  local  conditions 
without  injury  to  normal  character. 

8.  We  dissent  from  the  view  that  would  neglect 
the  momentous  relationships  of  the  human  spirit  in 
order  to  emphasize  instruction.  We  would  not  im- 
poverish country  children  by  taking  away  their 
birthright  of  a  positive  religious  experience. 

9.  We  would  make  free  and  confident  use  of  the 
idealism  of  unsophisticated  youth,  of  rural  vigor, 
earnestness,  resourcefulness,  and  industry,  of  nat- 
ural tendencies  to  morality  and  piety  in  the  country, 
in  full  hope  that  the  future  will  find  the  boys  and 


52       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

girls,  trained  in  the  country  Sunday  schools,  compe- 
tent for  service  and  for  leadership  in  country  or  in 
city,  as  opportunity  may  invite. 

ID.  The  larger  attendance  of  adults  in  country 
Sunday  schools  makes  it  possible  to  present  to  ma- 
ture minds  those  conceptions  and  ideals  by  which 
country  life  and  the  country  home  may  be  trans- 
formed, and  the  environment  of  country  boys  and 
girls  so  altered  that  discontent  with  rural  life  will 
be  greatly  diminished,  the  rural  exodus  checked,  and 
the  open  country  reinstated  in  its  basic  rights  in  the 
loyalty  and  affection  of  the  generation  rising  to 
influence. 

II.  In  view  of  these  critical  and  measureless 
interests,  and  in  consideration  of  the  greatly  pre- 
ponderant numbers  enrolled  in  country  Sunday 
schools,  we  favor  graded  instruction  when  the  ma- 
terial will  be  treated  from  the  rural  point  of  view. 


Chapter   V 

LEADERSHIP  AND  THE  RURAL  SUNDAY 
SCHOOL 

The  task  assigned  to  your  Committee  on  Leader- 
ship is  of  such  a  character  that  it  has  been  difficult 
to  place  limitations  upon  the  question  in  hand,  ow- 
ing to  the  fact  that  it  has  to  do  with  the  success  or 
failure  of  almost  every  phase  of  the  Country  Life 
problem.  There  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  the  importance  of  trained  leadership  if  we  are  to 
do  efficient  service  in  church  and  Sunday  school. 
Equipment  is  valuable;  a  carefully  graded  curricu- 
lum is  very  essential ;  devotion  to  the  work  is  very 
helpful;  but,  lacking  good  leadership,  all  these  to- 
gether cannot  bring  success.  We  find  that  in  the 
church  and  in  the  educational  work,  and  in  the 
economic  and  social  life  of  the  community,  every- 
where there  is  the  clear  call  for  leaders. 

The  great  majority  of  people  in  every  rural  sec- 
tion are  willing  and  eager  to  be  led,  if  we  can  but 
furnish  those  who  possess  those  elements  of  char- 
acter that  will  inspire  confidence  and  cooperation. 
There  are  some  who  would  have  us  think  that  the 
rural  community  is  antagonistic  to  the  very  prin- 
ciple of  leadership.  They  say  the  farmer  is  ex- 
tremely democratic  and  will  have  nothing  to  do 

53 


54       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

with  "bosses."  That  may  be  true  if  the  leader 
assumes  to  be  a  boss,  but  the  fault  is  with  that 
type  of  leadership,  and  not  with  the  people  to  whom 
they  make  reference.  In  the  true  meaning  of  the 
word  a  leader  is  never  a  mere  boss,  but  a  man 
among  men,  and  a  brother  with  his  brethren,  con- 
straining them  to  follow  the  manlier  motives  of 
ministry  to  mankind. 

The  question  of  leadership  presents  a  double  op- 
portunity to  the  rural  Sunday  school : 

First.  The  discovery  of  young  people  who,  at  an 
early  age,  give  prophecy  of  strength  of  mind  and  will, 
and  yet  require  careful  direction  in  right  moral 
channels.  It  is  easy  to  recognize  leadership  when 
it  has  been  fully  developed,  but  the  genius  of  Chris- 
tianity is  in  making  an  appeal  to  the  best  in  each 
one,  and  thus  calling  forth  the  latent  talents  that 
are  the  test  of  each  individual.  We  believe  that 
there  is  a  rich  field  for  pastors,  teachers,  and  super- 
intendents, as  well  as  for  Christian  parents  and  day 
school  teachers  who  are  well  qualified  to  do  this 
kind  of  service. 

Second.  The  Sunday  school,  if  efficient,  is  one 
of  the  best  institutions  in  the  community  for  the 
development  and  disciplining  of  leaders.  The  les- 
sons they  teach  and  the  spirit  of  the  Great  Teacher 
whom  they  set  forth  as  the  ideal  and  exemplar  are 
calculated  to  call  forth  those  characteristics  that 
always  insure  leadership.  Jesus  possesses  the  gen- 
tleness that  makes  men  great.  He  was  meek  and 
lowly  and  yet  the  mighty  Master  of  men.    To  know 


Leadership  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School      55 

him  is  to  be  like  him,  and  to  be  like  him  is  to  be  a 
leader  in  the  best  things  of  life. 

Leadership  is  another  word  for  genius.  Efficiency 
stands  for  business  in  religion  as  well  as  religion  in 
business.  The  few  lead  and  the  many  follow.  Men 
go  astray  like  sheep,  and  come  back  very  much  in 
the  same  way,  i.  e.,  they  follow  a  leader.  The 
descent  of  vice  is  easier  and  more  rapid  than  the 
ascent  of  virtue.  We  may  drift  into  disease  and  sin, 
but  we  must  will  our  way  back  into  moral  health 
and  rightness.  The  latter  calls  for  personal  convic- 
tion and  conquest  in  preparing  the  way  and  walking 
therein.  Emerson's  "Representative  Men,"  and 
Carlyle's  "Heroes"  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  world,  because  they  were  preeminently  the  lead- 
ers of  their  eras.  The  world  has  had  its  adventurers, 
its  leaders  in  colonization,  its  philosophers,  and  its 
great  generals.  But  this  new  century  is  to  be  the 
time  of  bloodless  battles,  and  our  leaders  are  to  be 
moral  and  spiritual  heroes.  The  Prince  of  Peace  is 
to  be  our  Great  Captain,  and  men  are  to  catch  his 
spirit  of  courage  and  self-denial.  "The  demand  for 
a  few  strong  men,"  says  John  R.  Mott,  "is  even  more 
imperative  than  more  men."  The  times  demand  in- 
dividuals who  not  only  have  the  prophet's  vision,  but 
who  possess  the  power  to  inspire  and  lead  others  to 
do  the  task. 

The  prophet  of  God  is  the  moral  general  who 
commands  the  latent  forces  of  his  audience  or  com- 
munity. His  message  is  a  call  to  ministry  and,  in 
that  sense,  each  leader  may  be  a  Grant  or  a  Sherman 
in  the  war  against  sin.     The  response  to  the  call 


5^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

will  depend  upon  the  authority  of  the  messenger. 
It  was  said  of  Jesus  that  he  spoke  with  authority 
and  not  as  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  Luther  re- 
ceived his  commission  direct  from  God,  and  then 
went  forth  to  command  the  men  of  Germany  to 
fight  for  religious  freedom  and  personal  purity.  It 
could  have  been  said  of  John  Knox,  as  it  was  of 
Napoleon,  that  his  presence  was  equal  to  ten  thou- 
sand men  on  the  field  of  battle.  His  word  was  a 
command  to  all  Scotland,  and  it  even  compelled  the 
attention  of  Kings  and  Queens.  John  Wesley,  like 
John  the  Baptist,  was  sent  to  prepare  the  way  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  call  England  out  of  her  spiritual 
sleep  and  moral  lethargy,  to  take  up  again  the  re- 
demption of  a  race. 

The  leaders  of  the  present  hour  are  not  only  the 
watchmen  on  the  walls  of  our  modern  Zions,  but 
they  are  divinely  commissioned  commanders  of  the 
economic,  political,  social,  and  moral  forces  qf  our 
twentieth  century  civilization.  Then  we  should  not 
forget  that  in  the  very  forefront  of  the  advancing 
armies  must  be  found  the  spiritual  leaders.  It  is 
our  privilege  to  call  men  to  battle  for  virtue  and 
against  vice ;  for  knowledge  and  against  ignorance ; 
for  temperance  and  against  drunkenness;  for  faith 
and  against  doubt ;  and  for  love  as  against  hate. 

'The  word  of  command,"  says  Mr.  Roosevelt,  "is 
useless  in  the  fight  unless  a  reasonable  number  of 
those  to  whom  it  is  uttered,  not  only  listen,  but  act 
upon  it.  Talk — mere  oratory — is  worse  than  use- 
less if  it  has  not  a  worthy  object  and  does  not  cause 


Leadership  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School      57 

men  to  actually  put  in  practice  the  message  re- 
ceived." 

The  new  patriotism  must  be  interpreted  in  the 
terms  of  Christian  conquest.  The  call  for  volun- 
teers must  be  recognized  as  the  call  of  the  Christ. 
The  Church,  in  city  and  country,  will  be  the  insti- 
tution through  which  the  modern  patriot  will  find 
the  expression  of  the  higher  sacrifice  of  victorious 
conquest.  "The  moral  substitute  for  war,"  that 
Professor  James  declared  was  the  need  of  the  hour, 
will  be  realized  in  the  army  of  Christian  soldiers  to 
be  found  in  every  community.  The  number  of 
private  soldiers  who  fight  in  the  ranks  may  vary 
from  year  to  year,  but  there  must  ever  be  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  valiant  leaders  to  command  the 
regiments  and  to  organize  new  recruits. 

The  rural  communities  call  for  a  special  type  of 
leadership.  We  need  men  who  appreciate  the  great- 
ness of  the  field,  and  who  will  be  able  to  discover 
and  train  those  who  are  waiting  for  some  one  to 
command  them.  An  institute  lecturer  declared  re- 
cently that  in  a  certain  community  where  it  was 
commonly  thought  that  no  young  people  remained 
the  right  call  brought  forth  forty  young  men,  all 
ready  for  service,  and  only  waiting  for  the  right 
one  to  redirect  their  restless  energy.  We  must  not 
fail  to  utilize  this  latent  leadership,  since,  as  Mr. 
Mott  says,  "The  cities  themselves  need  help,  and 
cannot  be  relied  upon  to  furnish  the  Christian  lead- 
ers of  the  future."  It  is  a  common  statement  in 
rural  communities  that  "There  are  no  leaders." 
Some  explain  by  saying  that  the  best  young  people 


58       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

have  for  many  years  been  moving  into  the  cities. 
Others  assert  that  the  people  in  that  section  do  not 
tolerate  any  boss.  Democracy  is  made  synonymous 
with  leadership  and  an  equally  false  notion  of  co- 
operation. Doctor  Hale  stated  a  few  years  ago  that 
"Together  is  the  twentieth  century  word."  This  is 
one  essential  of  efficient  leadership.  There  must 
be  more  federation  and  less  competition ;  more 
brotherhood  and  less  hate.  In  the  interest  of  econ- 
omy, as  well  as  comity,  we  must  stand  together. 
The  strength  of  an  army  is  accounted  for,  not  by  the 
character  of  the  individual  soldier,  but  by  the  united 
loyalty  to  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

We  have  based  our  deduction  of  principles  on  a 
careful  study  of  rural  communities.  The  larger  part 
of  our  recommendations  are  taken  from  contact  with 
conditions  as  they  now  exist  in  various  parts  of 
Ohio  and  other  states.  We  were  privileged  to  be 
associated  with  the  Advisory  Council  of  the  Ohio 
Rural  Life  Survey  that  made  a  very  careful  study 
of  about  one-fourth  of  the  counties  of  the  state. 
We  were  also  in  conference  with  other  Commissions 
on  Rural  Life  that  afforded  a  very  sympathetic 
touch  with  the  adolescent  boy  in  the  rural  com- 
munity. Several  hundred  letters  have  been  written 
to  the  clergy  and  laity  of  our  churches  containing 
various  questions  as  to  their  personal  experience  in 
dealing  with  adolescent  boys  and  girls.  We  briefly 
set  forth  some  of  our  findings. 

There  is  a  very  decided  need  of  a  better  type  of 
trained  leadership  in  the  churches  of  all  denomina- 
tions.    The  rural  communities  have  suffered  very 


Leadership  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School      59 

serious  losses  in  the  removal  of  the  older  settlers 
and  in  the  increasing  number  of  foreigners  and 
tenants  who  are  now  occupying  the  farms.  This 
has  affected,  not  only  the  churches,  but  the  schools 
and  other  rural  institutions  that  must  depend  upon 
a  settled  population  for  support.  Denominations 
have  not  been  able  to  readjust  themselves  to  the 
changed  conditions,  and  the  result  has  been  that  the 
supply  of  leaders  has  deteriorated  with  the  decrease 
of  the  salary  below  a  living  wage.  The  former 
members  are  gone  and  the  newcomers  have  not  been 
reached  or  won  to  the  Church. 

The  coming  of  the  suburban  electric  railway  has 
brought  the  country  people  in  close  contact  with  the 
vices  of  the  city  without  affording  any  knowledge  of 
its  deeper  Christian  virtues.  The  daily  newspaper 
now  visits  almost  every  farmer's  home  and  carries 
its  highly  colored  and  sensational  story  of  the 
w^orld's  crime. 

These  modern  conveniences  of  country  life,  while 
rich  in  a  commercial  way,  are  not  without  their 
perils  to  the  moral  and  religious  life  of  these  here- 
tofore secluded  sections.  We  would  not  condemn 
these  aids  to  progress,  but  rather  point  out  the  perils 
of  an  era  of  transition  to  those  who  misuse  these 
material  blessings  of  our  rapidly  advancing  civiliza- 
tion. A  superficial  knowledge  of  the  city,  such  as 
is  gained  by  the  transient  visitor,  is  apt  to  be  very 
misleading,  while  a  deeper  study  of  the  unseen 
Christian  forces  is  just  as  certain  to  be  beneficial. 
For  these  reasons  it  would  be  well  for  those  who 
have  to  do  with  young  life  during  those  formative 


6o       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

and  impressionable  years  to  provide  instruction  that 
will  not  only  point  out  the  evil,  but  illustrate  the 
better  side  of  urban  life. 

We  find  that  the  social  evil  v^hich  a  few  years 
ago  was  confined  almost  wholly  to  our  large  cities 
has  spread  its  dire  contagion  even  into  the  villages 
and  rural  communities,  and  calls  for  careful  instruc- 
tion and  warning  on  the  part  of  every  friend  of  the 
purity  and  perpetuity  of  the  home  and  the  nation. 
Along  with  this  we  find  a  marked  increase  in  Sab- 
bath desecration.  This  peril  is  tied  up  with  the 
play  and  recreation  life  of  the  youth.  The  Church 
having  lost  contact  with  the  young  people,  great 
numbers  are  left  without  Christian  leadership  and 
are  at  the  mercy  of  the  godless  gang. 

The  out-of-city  population  at  present  depends  to 
a  very  large  degree  on  the  professional  leadership 
that  is  brought  in  from  the  outside.  The  teacher  in 
the  school,  the  preacher  in  the  church,  the  County 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  secretary,  and 
the  institute  lecturer  are  usually  too  transient  in 
character.  Though  their  services  are  good,  their 
term  of  service  is  like  that  of  the  tenant — too  short 
and  uncertain.  The  country  not  only  needs,  but 
must  have,  a  leadership  that  is  native  and  as  per- 
manent as  the  institutions  they  serve.  We  are  con- 
vinced also  that  the  tendency  of  having  female 
teachers  in  day  schools  and  Sunday  schools  is  not 
in  harmony  with  the  modern  thought  of  securing 
the  training  best  adapted  to  the  adolescent  boy.  It 
stands  to  reason  we  ought  to  have  a  fair  percentage 
of  male  teachers  if  we  are  to  intelligently  under- 


Leadership  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School      6l 

stand  the  boy  and  efficiently  minister  to  his  deeper 
needs. 

We  are  led  to  make  the  following  recommenda- 
tions to  the  Commission: 

1.  A  careful  study  of  the  new  era  in  country  life 
with  its  attendant  new  conditions,  demands,  and 
opportunities. 

2.  A  closer  cooperation  and  federation  of  all 
Christian  organizations  in  developing  and  training 
leaders. 

3.  A  sympathetic  interest  and  assistance  from 
State  and  National  institutions  and  individuals  that 
are  awake  to  the  importance  of  rural  civilization. 

4.  That  classes  be  organized  in  each  community 
for  the  study  of  the  economic,  social,  and  religious 
phases  of  country  life  with  reference  to  local  com- 
munity needs. 

5.  That  added  emphasis  be  given  to  discovery 
and  training  of  community  leaders  who  possess  the 
rural  mind  and  are  in  accord  with  the  highest  ideals 
of  rural  well-being. 

6.  That  the  rural  Sunday  school  be  made  the 
efficient  agency  for  the  religious  education  of  the 
entire  community.  In  some  places  this  will  call  for 
the  cooperation  of  denominations  for  real  Christian 
conquest. 

7.  We  believe  the  present  problem  of  securing 
competent  leadership  and  the  development  of  native 
leaders  will  be  greatly  aided  by  the  new  appeal  to 
build  up  the  community,  rather  than  by  the  com- 
petitive effort  to  conserve  denominational  organiza- 
tions. 


62       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

8.  We  would  recommend  that  adolescent  boys 
and  girls  be  supplied  with  trained  teachers  of  their 
own  sex.  The  modern  ideals  and  problems  of  Chris- 
tian manhood  and  womanhood  demand  this  change 
of  method  in  Christian  pedagogy. 


Chapter  VI 

TEACHING    IN    THE    RURAL    SUNDAY 
SCHOOL 

It  is  our  opinion  that  the  Sunday  school  is  the 
great  popular  agency  for  the  training  of  rural  Chris- 
tian citizenship  and  leadership,  and  should  there- 
fore be  recognized  as  a  vitally  important  part  of 
the  educational  system,  as  well  as  of  the  social  and 
religious  equipment  of  the  nation. 

We  therefore  bespeak  for  the  rural  Sunday 
schools  a  more  effective  cooperation  from  all  classes, 
adults  as  well  as  children  and  youth,  and  a  worthy 
recognition  of  the  Sunday  school  teacher's  oppor- 
tunity, as  a  strategic  chance  for  personal  influence 
and  community  service.  In  view  of  the  facts  as  we 
find  them,  and  of  what  we  conceive  to  be  the  pos- 
sible function  of  the  Sunday  school  in  the  country, 
we  venture  to  offer  the  following  suggestions  as  to 
the  teaching  in  these  schools: 

I.  That  Sunday  school  officers  be  encouraged 
to  enlist  none  but  the  most  capable  men,  women, 
and  young  people  of  the  community  as  teachers, 
and  tactfully  to  eliminate  the  ineffectives  whose 
sole  reason  for  teaching  is  their  willingness  to 
teach ;  even  reducing  the  number  of  classes  if  cap- 
able teachers  are  scarce. 

63 


64       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

2.  That  men  of  virile  Christian  character,  com- 
munity leaders  when  possible,  be  intrusted  with  the 
classes  of  adolescent  boys. 

3.  That,  as  far  as  practicable,  teachers,  instead  of 
continuing  year  after  year  with  the  same  class,  re- 
main in  the  same  department,  teaching  a  succession 
of  classes,  thus  specializing  in  some  one  period  of 
boy  life  or  girlhood. 

4.  That  the  efforts  of  the  International  Sunday 
School  Association  to  develop  teacher  training  in 
rural  Sunday  schools  be  heartily  commended,  and 
that  the  standard  be  persistently  raised  until  teach- 
ing in  Sunday  school  shall  become  a  skilled  work- 
er's privilege. 

5.  That  Teachers'  Conferences  or  Councils  be 
encouraged,  both  on  the  township  and  county  basis, 
to  foster  higher  ideals  of  teaching,  to  be  a  medium 
of  social  fellowship  and  an  agency  for  enlisting  and 
developing  better  trained  teachers. 

6.  That  practical  grading  of  Sunday  schools  be 
encouraged,  along  lines  consistent  with  the  limita- 
tions of  rural  schools,  guarding  against  loss  of  en- 
thusiasm from  over-division  and  loss  of  unity  from 
diverse  teaching  material. 

7.  That  the  rural  Sunday  schools  select  with 
greater  care  their  teaching  material  and  lesson  helps. 
Too  frequently  the  cheapest  available  is  the  most 
popular,  regardless  of  quality.  Most  lesson  helps 
now  are  city  made  for  city  use.  We  urge  the  prep- 
aration and  publication  of  a  Sunday  school  litera- 
ture indigenous  to  country  life  and  adapted  to  its 
needs,  which  shall  utilize  the  vast  body  of  rural 


Teaching  in  the  Rural  Svmday  School         65 

material  in  the  Bible  for  the  making  of  country 
character,  a  literature  prepared  by  writers  who  un- 
derstand rural  life  and  the  viewpoints  and  needs  of 
country  people. 

8.  That  objective  methods  of  teaching  be  more 
generally  adopted,  using  such  plans  as  outdoor 
teaching,  clay  and  pulp  modeling,  and  stereographs 
to  make  real  the  scenes  in  Palestine  which  seem 
hopelessly  remote  from  our  modern  life. 

9.  That  the  work  of  the  Sunday  school  teacher 
be  not  limited  to  the  single  hour  on  Sunday,  but 
be  related  to  the  social,  recreative,  and  industrial 
life  of  the  boys  and  girls.  The  fact  must  be  frankly 
faced  that  no  rural  community  can  reach  its  highest 
plane  until  its  play  life  and  its  work  life  are  re- 
deemed, and  the  wholesome  recreation  provided 
upon  which  rural  work  and  morality  depend. 

10.  Not  only  should  the  men  of  the  community 
find  in  connection  with  the  Sunday  school  a  con- 
venient forum  for  discussing  local  needs,  but  we 
suggest  that  the  older  boys  and  the  young  men 
may  well  be  trained  more  thoroughly  in  Christian 
civics  in  a  citizenship  class  in  the  Sunday  school. 
In  this  way,  or  some  other,  the  rural  Sunday  school 
should  be  made  to  serve  vitally  the  broader  needs 
of  its  community  and  to  develop  a  consecrated  and 
intelligent  leadership  in  line  with  the  best  ideals  of 
the  country  life  movement  for  rural  redirection. 

The  above  suggestions  make  it  sufficiently  clear 
that  your  committee  interpret  the  function  of  the 
Sunday  school  teacher  as  something  more  than  an 
instructor  in  biblical  facts,  or  an  evangelist  to  secure 


^^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

the  personal  devotion  of  the  pupil  to  Jesus  Christ. 
Both  of  these  functions  are  exceedingly  important; 
but  enlistment  is  only  a  soldier's  first  duty,  and 
knowledge  is  but  the  beginning  of  wisdom.  We  be- 
lieve the  teacher  of  adolescent  boys  and  girls  in  the 
country  Sunday  school  should  be  satisfied  with  noth- 
ing less  than  the  developing,  through  teaching, 
training,  and  life-sharing,  of  an  efficient,  useful  cit- 
izenship and  a  symmetrical  Christian  manhood  and 
womanhood  in  its  boys  and  girls.  For  this  thor- 
oughgoing service  no  preparation  can  be  too  com- 
plete and  no  devotion  too  costly  or  exacting. 


Chapter  VII 

TEACHER  TRAINING  FOR  THE  COUNTRY 
SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

No  movement  of  the  last  ten  years  has  developed 
so  rapidly  in  connection  with  the  Church  as  the 
growth  of  the  Sunday  school.  It  is  no  longer  a 
school  for  the  little  children  alone,  though  its  in- 
struction is  far  superior  to  that  of  other  years  in  its 
kindergarten  and  primary  work.  It  is  now  a  school 
for  the  teen  years  and  for  Bible  study  among  men 
and  women.  The  country  church  has  oftentimes 
failed  to  fall  in  line  with  this  inspiring  educational 
movement.  Its  leaders  have  believed  that  their  dif- 
ficulties were  special  ones :  that  the  graded  school 
and  graded  lessons,  and  better  instruction,  and  more 
complete  organization  belonged  to  the  city  and 
could  be  used  there  alone.  There  are  indeed  grave 
difficulties  before  the  country  church.  Its  Sunday 
school  usually  meets  in  one  room.  It  has  no  fold- 
ing doors,  rolling  partitions,  or  adequate  equipment. 
The  rough  roads  and  bad  weather,  the  distance  of 
the  people  from  the  church,  all  seem  to  hinder  the 
adoption  of  modern  methods ;  but  this  is  a  mistake. 
The  best  things  can  be  adapted,  not  all  adopted.  It 
is  a  question  of  spirit,  intention,  and  intelligence, 
and    thousands   of   country   Sunday    schools    have 

67 


68       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

gained  new  life  and  increasing  interest  by  taking 
the  new  methods  and  adapting  them  to  their  own 
circumstances. 

The  Training  Class.  The  question  of  all  ques- 
tions is — the  teacher;  for  everywhere  the  teacher  is 
the  school,  and  wherever  a  superintendent  and  body 
of  earnest  well-equipped  teachers  can  be  found  there 
the  Sunday  school  flourishes  in  city  or  in  country. 
The  training  class  is  a  necessity  for  the  efficient 
Sunday  school.  How  can  it  be  carried  forward  suc- 
cessfully under  the  conditions  of  country  life? 
There  are  several  types  of  training  classes : 

(a)  The  class  of  pupils  meeting  at  the  Sunday 
school  hour  is  now  the  popular  type  of  class.  They 
are  the  teachers  of  to-morrow  in  preparation.  They 
are  chosen  at  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  or  nineteen 
years  of  age — carefully  chosen,  one  by  one,  accord- 
ing to  their  fitness  and  willingness,  and  especially 
their  conviction  and  earnestness  regarding  Chris- 
tian truth.  The  superintendent,  pastor,  and  teach- 
ers must  make  the  choice,  but  it  should  be  done 
with  great  care  and  with  prayerful  personal  atten- 
tion. The  young  people  are  then  pledged  to  a  year 
of  work.  A  training  course  means  at  least  one  hour 
a  week  of  class  work  with  two  hours  for  prepara- 
tion. The  subjects  are:  the  study  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  child  nature,  methods  of  teaching, 
and  management  and  organization  of  the  Sunday 
school.  It  is  customary  to  begin  with  the  Bible 
study.  Some  classes,  however,  succeed  best  by  be- 
ginning with  the  study  of  child  nature,  or  the  study 
of  the  Sunday  school.     Two  years  should  be  given 


Teacher  Training  for  Country  Sunday  School       69 

to  this  work,  with  some  practice  teaching,  observa- 
tion work,  reference  reading,  and  opportunity  for 
discussion  in  the  class.  Theme  writing  and  practice 
teaching  under  the  guidance  of  an  experienced 
teacher  belong  especially  to  the  second  year.  Young 
people  really  want  to  work.  Many  of  them  desire 
leadership  and  activity  in  the  church  if  they  can 
only  be  properly  directed. 

(b)  The  second  type  of  class  is  the  class  of 
teachers  meeting  at  the  week-day  hour  or  at  some 
hour  on  Sunday,  as  frequently  the  preaching  service 
in  the  country  church  is  only  on  alternate  Sabbaths. 
These  teachers  follow  much  the  same  course  as  in- 
dicated in  Bible  study,  the  study  of  child  nature  and 
methods  of  teaching,  but  they  should  be  prepared 
to  take  more  advanced  books,  give  more  time  to  dis- 
cussion, and  especially  to  reports  of  their  own  teach- 
ing and  to  discussion  regarding  methods  and  effi- 
ciency in  the  school.  They  should  also  be  expected 
to  take  up  the  question  of  the  school  in  its  wider 
relation  to  the  community,  and  to  discuss  the  prob- 
lems of  community  life  in  a  very  broad  way,  because 
oftentimes  this  class  is  the  only  class  with  definite 
hours  of  study  connected  with  the  church,  and  they 
should  study  the  means  by  which  the  church  can 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  community. 

(c)  A  third  type  of  class  is  the  union  class, 
where  the  teachers,  officers,  and  older  students  from 
a  number  of  schools  meet  together.  This  is  often 
the  most  successful  class,  because  the  willing  and 
studious  spirits  from  a  number  of  churches  form 
a  strong  group,  and  oftentimes  such  a  class  can 


70       TJte  Teens  and  tJw  Rural  Sunday  School 

secure  teachers  for  the  different  subjects  rather 
than  give  the  whole  work  to  one  teacher.  Then, 
too,  they  have  a  w^ider  community  interest  and  can 
discuss  more  of  its  problems  and  have  a  far  wider 
influence  than  the  class  from  a  single  church.  There 
is  only  a  very  limited  amount  of  the  instruction  in 
the  teacher  training  courses  that  is  essentially  doc- 
trinal. There  is  found  little  difficulty  in  bringing 
several  churches  together,  in  fact,  this  hindrance 
seldom  appears. 

The  Teacher  of  the  Class.  The  teacher  of  the 
training  class  is  often  a  minister,  sometimes  a  pub- 
lic school  teacher  or  Sunday  school  teacher  of 
studious  habits.  Some  fitting  teacher  can  be  found 
in  nearly  every  community,  and  very  often  where 
a  group  of  young  people  have  organized  for 
study  they  have  chosen  one  of  their  own  number 
as  teacher  and  have  carried  their  work  on  with  suc- 
cess, the  teacher  studying  with  the  class.  The  ex- 
aminations and  credits  are  given  by  the  denomina- 
tional boards  or  the  State  Associations  of  the 
International  Association.  The  examination  ques- 
tions are  sent  to  the  teacher,  so  that  there  is  some- 
thing of  supervision  and  guidance  offered  to  the 
teacher  through  these  strong  outside  influences. 

The  Social  Life  of  the  Class.  The  class  in  the 
country  can  frequently  be  nourished  and  its  interest 
sustained  by  some  attention  to  the  social  life.  An 
instance  has  been  brought  to  light  recently  in  which 
a  minister's  wife  in  a  village  church  called  a  group 
of  young  people  together  by  giving  them  a  luncheon 
and  pleasant  hour  in  her  home,  and  found  them 


Teacher  Training  for  Country  Sunday  School       7^ 

willing  to  do  some  study  later.  They  were  indif- 
ferent to  it  at  first,  and  only  her  persuasion  and 
social  tact  secured  any  interest,  but  as  she  invited 
them  week  by  week  they  soon  became  absorbed  in 
the  work  itself,  and  study  which  they  would 
not  have  pursued  without  the  social  induce- 
ment was  carried  on  later  for  its  own  sake.  Fre- 
quently these  classes  meet  at  the  homes  of  the  mem- 
bers, going  from  place  to  place,  and  enjoying  a 
social  hour  before  or  after  the  period  of  study.  The 
work  must  usually  be  discontinued  during  the  sum- 
mer, but  seven  or  eight  months  of  work  are  entirely 
practicable. 

The  Small  Class.  Much  of  the  best  work  is  done 
in  small  classes.  Classes  of  five  or  six  in  number 
have  frequently  worked  with  success;  where  nine 
or  ten  can  be  secured  the  class  may  be  made  more 
interesting.  Where  the  number  is  larger  than  this 
the  class  should  be  organized,  with  a  president,  vice- 
president,  secretary,  treasurer,  and  committees.  In 
this  way  very  much  more  of  social  life  and  class 
spirit  can  be  maintained.  Buttons,  ribbons,  badges, 
and  the  like  are  often  delightful  means  of  develop- 
ing a  class  spirit  and  binding  its  members  together. 
When  the  Bible  is  really  studied  in  a  fresh  and 
earnest  way  it  is  found  to  be  the  most  interesting 
book  in  the  world,  and  the  new  light  on  child  na- 
ture makes  it  so  fascinating  that  it  has  proved  a 
subject  of  wonderful  interest  to  many  groups  of 
workers;  so  that  no  small  group  need  be  discour- 
aged or  afraid  to  undertake  a  definite  course  of 
study,  as  it  is  not  the  size  of  the  class,  but  its  sense 


7^       The  Teem  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

of  responsibility  and  willingness  to  work  that  de- 
termine its  success. 

Fitting  for  Special  Work.  While  the  course  of 
study  follows  general  lines,  the  students  must  begin 
early  to  give  their  attention  to  preparation  for  spe- 
cial work.  The  teacher  of  the  little  child  should 
study  the  Bible  and  study  the  child  with  the  little 
beginner  or  primary  child  in  mind,  and  the  one  who 
is  being  fitted  to  teach  boys  or  girls  in  the  teen 
years  should  make  a  different  preparation,  for  the 
problems  of  that  work  will  demand  some  special 
knowledge  and  training  very  different  from  that 
needed  by  the  teacher  of  the  little  child.  Now  these 
special  tasks  can  only  be  taken  up  by  reference  read- 
ing and  by  discussion  in  the  class.  The  teacher 
must  choose  and  guide  the  members  of  the  class  in 
regard  to  their  future  work. 

Conventions,  Institutes,  and  the  Like.  No  school 
can  live  to  itself:  it  must  be  part  of  the  big  world. 
The  urgent  demand  for  Christian  unity  and  a  fine 
spirit  of  brotherhood  in  the  country  life  reaches  the 
Sunday  school.  There  must  be  keen  work  among 
the  Sunday  schools  if  they  are  to  give  really  relig- 
ious instruction  and  make  a  real  contribution  to  the 
social  life  and  truly  assume  moral  leadership. 

The  township  convention  is  one  of  the  most  effec- 
tive agencies  within  the  reach  of  the  country  Sun- 
day school.  It  brings  officers  and  teachers  together, 
it  offers  some  outside  help — some  inspiring  leaders 
from  county  or  city,  it  offers  a  program  which  is 
now  usually  fairly  practical,  educational,  and  in- 
tpiringf.    After  the  township  convention  comes  the 


Teacher  Training  for  Country  Sunday  School      73 

meeting  of  the  workers  for  the  county,  which  is 
held  once  a  year.  This  brings  a  larger  group  into 
discussion,  and  in  it  are  frequently  heard  men  and 
women  of  fine  training  who  are  giving  their  lives  to 
the  Sunday  school  as  a  field  of  service. 

There  is  now  an  increasing  number  of  schools 
of  methods,  lasting  five  or  six  days,  holding  meet- 
ings in  the  country,  or  sometimes  at  some  lake-side 
or  like  pleasant  resort  in  summer  time,  sometimes 
in  town  or  city  in  winter.  This  school  is  to  the 
Sunday  school  what  the  county  institute  has  always 
been  to  the  public  school.  Its  instruction,  its  lead- 
ers, its  conferences,  and  discussion  have  inspired 
and  guided  many  teachers  and  officers  who  are  lead- 
ers in  the  most  successful  schools  in  America  to-day. 

The  township  and  county  conventions  are  now 
taking  far  wider  range  in  their  programs  and  invit- 
ing agricultural  experts  and  social  workers,  success- 
ful country  leaders,  and  the  whole  problem  of 
country  welfare  is  discussed  in  a  broad  Christian 
spirit.  The  value  of  the  church  in  the  country  is 
clearly  recognized  and  the  Sunday  school  is  found 
to  be  the  very  heart  of  the  church ;  and  so  the  prob- 
lems of  the  Sunday  school  are  the  problems  of  Sun- 
day and  of  week-day,  of  sport  and  recreation,  of 
reading  and  good  roads,  of  well-equipped  homes  and 
a  united  community. 

The  Workers'  Library.  Each  church  should  be- 
gin to  acquire  a  small  workers'  library.  This  should 
contain  books  for  each  department  of  the  Sunday 
school.  They  should  be  chosen  very  carefully  and 
a  few  at  a  time.    The  training  class  should  have  a 


74       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

Bible  Dictionary,  a  few  maps,  and  then  begin  to 
acquire  books  for  the  younger  and  older  child,  books 
regarding  boy  life  and  girl  life,  class  organization, 
story  telling,  Bible  study,  country-life  problems,  the 
organization  and  efficiency  of  Sunday  school  man- 
agement. These  books  should  be  in  the  care  of 
some  one  chosen  as  librarian,  who  should  keep  a 
record  of  the  reading  done,  and  be  competent  to 
suggest  to  the  different  members,  officers,  and  teach- 
ers of  the  school  the  chapters  of  special  value  to 
them,  and  also  to  suggest  the  books  that  are  the 
most  helpful  in  regard  to  country-life  questions. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  problem  of  teacher  train- 
ing is  really  a  problem  of  training  leaders,  of  de- 
veloping special  talents,  and  of  meeting  the  live 
problems  in  regard  to  Christian  service. 

A  training  course  for  a  class  of  younger  students 
should  contain  at  least  fifteen  lesson  hours  of  Old 
Testament  study,  at  least  fifteen  lesson  hours  of 
New  Testament  study,  at  least  ten  lesson  hours  on 
the  study  of  child  nature  with  the  reading  of  at 
least  two  books  on  the  study  of  childhood  or  adol- 
escence, ten  hours  on  the  methods  of  teaching,  and 
from  eight  to  ten  hours  on  the  study  of  the  Sunday 
school  and  organization. 


Chapter  VIII 

COOPERATIVE   ACTIVITIES 

Your  Committee  appointed  to  make  a  study  of 
the  Cooperative  Activities  that  might  be  used  in 
relation  to  the  rural  Sunday  school  beg  leave  to 
offer  the  report  given  below. 

Home    Activities 

We  believe  that  the  rural  home  can  contribute 
much  toward  the  successful  maintenance  of  the 
Sunday  school.  In  fact,  without  parental  coopera- 
tion it  is  practically  impossible  to  conduct  a  Sun- 
day school  that  is  anything  more  than  a  hit-or-miss 
juvenile  gathering.  We  believe,  however,  that  rural 
parents  possess  far  more  willingness  than  ability  to 
give  adequate  support  to  the  Sunday  school  work. 
Two  particular  lines  of  parent  instruction  and  guid- 
ance seem  to  us  well-nigh  imperative.  First,  there 
.should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  every  rural  parent 
an  inexpensive  leaflet  treating  with  full  care  and 
detail  the  following  topic :  "How  to  assist  the  chil- 
dren in  their  Sunday  school  work."  This  pamphlet 
should  take  up  item  by  item  the  small  home  affairs 
that  need  a  readjustment  in  the  interest  of  the  Sun- 
day school.     This  printed  document  should  begin 

75 


7^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

with  a  clear  and  forceful  enunciation  of  the  mean- 
ings and  principle  of  Sunday  school  work.  It  should 
attempt  to  make  clear  to  the  reader  the  idea  that 
Sunday  school  training  is  an  essential  part  of  the 
whole  course  of  discipline  in  any  good  life.  It 
should  point  out  and  explain  the  fact  that  a  well 
regulated,  well  attended  Sunday  school  will  bring 
in  as  big  returns  in  every  way  as  any  other  insti- 
tution. This  pamphlet  should  explain  that  the  Sun- 
day school  is  worthy  of  support  because  of  its  mak- 
ing for  better  contentment  among  the  boys  and  girls 
of  the  neighborhood,  and  because  it  will  furnish  the 
parents  much  assistance  in  their  efforts  to  instil 
lessons  of  moral  reliance  and  social  purity. 

After  the  best  purposes  of  the  country  Sunday 
school  have  been  adequately  set  forth  the  pamphlet 
should  take  up  and  consider  the  best  means  of  in- 
ducting country  youth  into  Sunday  school  work  and 
the  most  reliable  methods  of  securing  their  regular 
attendance.  It  should  urge  parents  to  relieve  their 
children  as  far  as  possible  from  the  Sunday  per- 
formance of  the  week-day  tasks. 


School   Cooperation 

We  believe  that  the  rural  school  can  do  very  little 
of  a  direct  nature  and  very  much  of  an  indirect 
nature  to  foster  the  Sunday  school.  What  we  espe- 
cially urge  in  this  connection  is  that  everything 
possible  be  done  to  unify  all  the  agencies  which 
contribute  to  the  better  development  of  the  country 


Cooperative  Activities  77 

boys  and  girls.  That  is,  we  wish  to  have  all  the 
rural  dwellers  to  regard  the  Sunday  school  in  the 
same  serious  light  as  they  do  the  day  school.  As  a 
means  of  showing  the  right  neighborhood  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Sunday  school  the  board  of  public  school 
trustees  should  aim  to  elect  a  teacher  who  will  con- 
tribute something  toward  the  Sunday  work.  While 
no  contract  to  this  effect  could  be  drawn,  a  board 
could  show  their  appreciation  of  the  Sunday  service 
rendered  by  the  teacher  by  allowing  her  a  liberal 
salary  for  her  regular  school  services. 

The  public  school  is  not  permitted  to  teach  re- 
ligion; nevertheless,  a  full  respect  for  religious 
teaching  and  practice  can  be  indirectly  inculcated  in 
the  day  school.  We  therefore  believe  that  it  would 
be  most  helpful  in  building  up  a  substantial  relig- 
ious sentiment  in  the  rural  neighborhood  if  there 
could  be  furnished  every  country  teacher  a  well- 
thought-out,  well  prepared  leaflet,  written  under  the 
title:  ''How  the  teacher  may  aid  and  encourage 
the  rural  Sunday  school."  This  pamphlet  would  pre- 
sent clearly  and  suggestively  the  following  points: 
(i)  Hov/  the  teacher  may  allude  to  the  work  of  the 
local  church  and  Sunday  school  during  the  course 
of  the  lesson  recitations,  with  a  thought  of  showing 
their  worth  to  the  community.  Let  her  be  shown 
how  the  lessons  in  reading,  history,  civics,  and  other 
subjects  may  frequently  lead  to  sentiments  and  con- 
clusions favorable  to  the  religious  work.  (2)  How 
the  teacher  may  defend  the  religious  work  against 
slurs  and  slighting  remarks,  and  also  how  she  may 
defend  and  call  favorable  attention  to  the  characters 


78       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

of  those  who  are  putting  their  voluntary  efforts  into 
the  maintenance  of  the  Sunday  school.  (3)  This 
pamphlet  should  aim  especially  to  explain  to  the 
rural  teacher  precisely  how  and  why  a  well  man- 
aged local  church  and  Sunday  school  contribute  to 
the  economic  worth  of  the  community. 

We  feel  certain  that  the  ordinary  district  school 
teacher  has  given  this  important  matter  little  or  no 
thought,  and  that  she  is  greatly  in  need  of  a  clear 
and  stimulating  exhortation  in  regard  to  the  matter. 
We  also  believe  that  when  once  the  teacher  has  ac- 
quired the  right  appreciation  of  the  religious  work 
she  will  willingly  and  effectively  lend  her  heart  and 
her  hand  to  its  support. 

Were  there  means  for  doing  so,  we  should  also  be 
inclined  to  have  some  descriptive,  argumentative, 
and  stimulating  literature  treating  the  value  of  the 
Sunday  school  to  the  community  placed  in  the 
hands  of  every  member  of  the  rural  school  boards. 
And  what  we  especially  recommend  at  this  point  is 
suggestive  of  one  of  the  main  threads  of  our  entire 
report,  namely,  that  everything  possible  be  done 
by  way  of  uniting  the  thought  and  the  sentiment  of 
all  of  the  members  of  the  country  community  in 
such  a  way  that  those  who  have  special  aptitude  as 
Sunday  school  leaders  may  have  sufficient  backing 
and  encouragement  to  enable  them  to  go  on  and 
establish  their  good  purposes  permanently. 


Cooperative  Activities  79 

Recreation 

We  believe  that  the  possibilities  of  linking  up  the 
rural  Sunday  school  work  with  various  recreative 
activities  are  very  numerous  and  important.  There 
is  no  need  of  argument  to  support  the  contention 
that  country  life  nearly  everywhere  is  very  much 
lacking  in  facilities  for  helpful  recreation.  Not  only 
are  the  working  days  on  the  farm  as  a  rule  too  long, 
but  the  working  seasons  are  too  little  interspersed 
with  rest  periods  and  recreative  activities. 

The  old-fashioned  Sunday  school  picnic  in  the 
woods,  if  rightly  managed,  furnishes  an  excellent 
summer  outing.  Its  chief  fault  hitherto  has  been 
its  infrequency.  Once  a  year  is  not  often  enough 
for  such  an  affair.  The  boys  and  girls  of  the  Sun- 
day school  and  the  community  have  something  en- 
ticing to  look  forward  to  and  to  think  back  about. 
Of  course  much  will  depend  upon  the  ability  of  the 
leader  and  organizer.  He  or  she  must  be  a  person 
who  can  make  a  typical  rural  dweller  regard  the 
half  holiday  spent  in  recreation  in  the  light  of  an 
economic  investment — which  it  really  is.  The  busy 
farm  father  needs  to  be  shown,  for  example,  that 
his  boys  will  accomplish  more  work  and  do  it  better 
in  eleven  days  and  a  half  of  each  fortnight  spent  in 
the  field,  and  one  half  day  spent  at  the  recreation 
center,  than  they  will  in  twelve  days  all  consumed 
in  the  heavy  farm  occupations. 

Conditions  are  so  varying  that  it  is  difficult  to 
offer  a  detailed  plan  for  the  Sunday  school  picnic, 
but  as  a  rule  the  country  people  should  not  be  taken 


8o       The  Teem  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

to  town  for  their  recreation,  enticing  as  that  may  be 
to  some.  Rather,  they  should  go  together  to  the 
woodland  for  purposes  of  camping,  fishing,  and  the 
like;  or  to  the  mountainside,  if  such  be  available; 
or  to  the  open  meadow  land,  if  neither  of  the  places 
just  named  are  accessible,  where  temporary  shades 
may  be  set  up,  and  where  baseball,  tennis,  and  other 
athletic  sports  may  be  engaged  in. 

We  believe  that  baseball  may  be  made  an  espe- 
cially helpful  agency  in  relation  to  the  Sunday 
school.  We  recommend  that  definite  suggestions 
be  given  the  rural  Sunday  school  leaders  for  or- 
ganizing baseball  clubs  and  for  bringing  the  ball 
team  into  active  contests  with  neighboring  Sunday 
school  teams.  We  believe  that  it  would  be  prac- 
ticable to  organize  a  county  league  of  rural  Sunday 
school  baseball  clubs ;  that  a  series  of  games  could 
be  arranged  for,  say,  either  every  Thursday  after- 
noon or  every  alternate  Thursday  afternoon,  with 
two  to  five  Sunday  school  groups  in  attendance. 
While  this  county  league  suggestion  has  rjot  been 
carried  out  to  our  knowledge,  w^e  know  personally 
of  rural  baseball  clubs  which  have  developed  such 
a  sentiment  in  their  favor  that  practically  everybody 
in  the  community  ceases  work  on  a  mid-week  after- 
noon to  witness  and  applaud  the  games. 

We  find  that  in  many  rural  communities  there  is 
maintained  a  Sunday  afternoon  baseball  game  which 
is  antagonistic  to  the  well-being  of  the  community. 
The  most  common  method  of  procedure  in  overcom- 
ing this  evil  is  that  of  direct  attack,  the  law  fre- 
quently being  sought  as  a  vehicle  of  reform.     We 


Cooper  a  five  Ac  tivi  ties  8 1 

do  not  find  that  this  method  of  force  and  direct  op- 
position is  successful  or  desirable,  and  we  earnestly 
recommend  a  radically  different  method  as  follows : 
Have  the  local  church  and  Sunday  school  organiza- 
tion unite  in  an  effort  to  make  peaceful  terms  with 
the  Sunday  baseball  players.  Let  the  commit- 
tee representing  the  religious  element  remind  the 
players  that  they  wish  to  participate  in  the  ball 
game,  but  cannot  do  so  on  Sunday  for  obvious 
reasons.  Let  the  committee  agree  that  if  the  Sun- 
day game  be  permanently  discontinued  and  some 
week-day  substituted  they  and  the  members  of  the 
church  and  Sunday  school  will  make  an  effort  to 
attend  and  support  the  games.  It  is  our  belief  that 
the  Sunday  baseball  game  is  quite  as  much  a  reflec- 
tion on  the  local  churches  and  Sunday  schools  as 
upon  any  other  element  of  a  community;  and  we 
further  believe  that  the  Sunday  game  may  not  only 
be  discontinued  as  a  result  of  the  method  just  de- 
scribed, but  also  that  an  active  participation  in  the 
game  by  the  church  and  Sunday  school  members 
will  put  a  new  kind  of  religious  zeal  into  such  mem- 
bers and  likewise  prove  a  means  of  increasing  the 
attendance  at  the  religious  services. 

We  do  not  see  any  good  reason  why  the  Sunday 
school  might  not  organize  general  field  meets  for 
the  community  on  one  or  more  occasions  during  the 
year. 

The  attitude  of  the  Sunday  school  toward  all  the 
foregoing  athletic  and  recreative  practices  is  largely 
a  matter  of  the  education  of  public  sentiment.  In 
many   instances   where   opposition   to   such   sports 


S2      The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday/  School 

was  once  very  great,  such  opposition  has  been  grad- 
ually broken  down  and  in  its  stead  there  is  a  united 
enthusiasm.  We  therefore  urge  the  necessity  and 
the  practicability  of  placing  in  the  hands  of  rural 
Sunday  school  leaders  well  selected  literature  on 
this  subject. 

Local  Improvement  and  Civics 

We  find  that  in  a  few  notable  instances  the  youth- 
ful members  of  the  rural  Sunday  school  have  done 
effective  public  improvement  work  as  follows:  (i) 
The  young  men  of  the  Sunday  school  were  orga- 
nized into  a  good  roads  association,  the  first  stated 
purpose  being  that  of  improving  the  roads  over 
which  the  various  members  had  to  pass  in  reaching 
the  local  church.  Roads  were  dragged  through  vol- 
untary effort,  crossings  were  made  through  muddy 
streams  during  the  summer  seasons,  and  passage- 
ways were  opened  through  the  snow  during  the 
winter  seasons.  The  second  purpose  of  one  of  these 
clubs  was  that  of  bringing  about  the  construction 
of  hitch  racks  and  wind  sheds  at  the  church  to  serve 
the  needs  of  the  horses  during  the  religious  services. 
A  third  purpose  of  the  club  was  that  of  beautifying 
the  grounds  surrounding  the  local  church,  by  clear- 
ing debris,  planting  out  trees,  laying  walks,  and  the 
like. 

Associated  with  such  a  club  of  young  men  as 
described  above  there  has  been  reported  in  at  least 
one  instance  a  Sunday  school  organization  of  young 
women,  which,  operating  under  a  euphonious  name. 


Cooperative  Activities  83 

furnished  the  bulbs  and  flowers  for  adding  to  the 
beauty  of  the  local  grounds,  and  also  looked  after 
the  internal  decorations  of  the  church  building. 

A  third  local  improvement  club,  constituted  of 
the  young  men  of  the  Sunday  school,  acting  with 
the  older  men  of  the  community,  is  reported  to  have 
done  effective  work  in  opposition  to  desecration  of 
the  Sabbath.  They  worked  for  a  better  enforcement 
of  the  law  prohibiting  Sabbath  desecration,  and  also 
labored  with  their  representatives  in  the  interest  of 
the  enactment  of  better  laws.  They  also  sought 
out  the  persons  and  places  where  young  men  were 
enticed  into  evil  practices,  and  did  what  they  could 
to  correct  such  abuses. 

In  a  few  localities  it  is  reported  that  there  exist 
bands  of  purity  as  an  adjunct  of  the  rural  Sunday 
school.  The  purpose  of  these  youthful  bands  is 
usually  that  of  insuring  temperance  and  purity  on 
the  part  of  boys,  and  also  of  inculcating  a  better 
sentiment  in  behalf  of  the  practice  of  purity  of 
speech,  thought,  and  action. 

In  some  instances  economic  clubs  have  had  a  help- 
ful relation  to  the  Sunday  school.  The  local  min- 
ister in  a  few  instances  has  given  the  boys'  corn 
club  much  prominence  by  means  of  a  so-called  Corn- 
Sunday.  On  this  occasion  the  church  has  been 
decorated  with  farm  products,  corn  predominating. 
The  sermon  has  been  applied  to  farm-produce  prob- 
lems, and  the  Sunday  school  likewise  considered  a 
scriptural  lesson  related  to  this  important  subject. 
Many  of  the  states  are  now  calling  urgently  through 
the  medium  of  their  agricultural  colleges  for  volun- 


84       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

teer  economic  clubs  of  rural  boys  and  girls.  We  do 
not  have  in  mind  any  reasons  that  would  prevent 
the  rural  Sunday  school  from  organizing  such  clubs 
within  its  own  membership. 

Along  with  the  boys'  corn  club  there  may  be  con- 
ducted a  girls'  bread-making  club.  While  we  do 
not  believe  that  these  organizations  will  succeed 
well  if  organized  with  a  purely  local  interest,  we 
can  see  how  they  might  contribute  much  indirect 
life  to  the  Sunday  school  which  encourages  them  as 
a  means  of  carrying  on  the  work  directed  by  the 
extension  department  of  the  college. 

We  commend  all  the  foregoing  forms  of  civic  and 
local  improvement  activities  among  rural  Sunday 
school  youths,  and  we  recommend  that  there  be 
formulated  for  the  rural  Sunday  school  workers  a 
specific  plan  for  organizing  and  rendering  effective 
the  types  of  activity  included  in  the  list. 

Social    Affairs 

If  the  various  forms  of  activity  described  above 
have  any  merit  it  is  probably  because  of  their  hav- 
ing a  strong  social  element.  Indeed,  we  must  rec- 
ognize that  the  adolescent  boy  and  girl,  no  matter 
where  their  lot  be  cast,  are  above  all  things  else  in- 
terested in  social  affairs.  It  is  therefore  altogether 
practical  for  the  Sunday  school  worker  to  arrange 
for  a  series  of  regular  social  events  for  the  adoles- 
cent members  of  the  Sunday  school.  We  believe 
that  the  adolescent  boys  and  girls  of  the  ordinary 
countr}''  community  need  to  be  brought  together  in 


Cooperative  Activities  B5 

a  social  way  more  than  they  are  to-day.  The  asso- 
ciation of  the  sexes  dtiring-  this  period  of  life,  under 
guidance  and  supervision,  proves  to  be  the  means 
of  enhancing  personal  purity  rather  than  the  op- 
posite, as  many  have  seemed  to  believe. 

The  rural  leader  may  therefore  frequently  plan 
for  an  evening  party  of  the  young  people  within 
the  church  and  Sunday  school.  It  would  be  well  to 
designate  this  organization  in  some  such  way  as  the 

following:     "The  Social  Union  of  the  

Sunday  School."  Such  a  name  would  tend  to  keep 
out  undesirable  practices  and  undesirable  guests. 
It  would  also  suggest  the  generous  spirit  of  the  re- 
ligious leaders  of  the  community,  and  would  con- 
stitute an  indirect  invitation  to  the  hesitating  young 
people  to  ally  themselves  with  the  Sunday  school 
organization. 

In  a  few  instances  the  social  union  has  been  fos- 
tered under  the  guise  of  a  literary  society  with  a 
literary  program.  There  is  every  reason  to  com- 
mend this  literary  form  of  adjunct  to  the  rural  Sun- 
day school.  In  respect  to  the  management  of  such 
an  organization  we  would  note  the  necessity  of  al- 
lowing much  time  during  the  evening  of  the  per- 
formance for  the  social  intercourse  of  the  young 
people.  Again,  the  name  of  the  society  may,  and 
doubtless  should,  suggest  the  Sunday  school  organ- 
ization which  is  backing  it.  The  success  of  a  liter- 
ary organization  is  dependent  very  largely  upon  the 
tact  and  insight  of  the  leader. 

We  also  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  necessity  of 
conducting  an  active  campaign  looking  toward  the 


86       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

education  of  public  sentiment.  In  not  a  few  of  the 
rural  communities  where  the  church  and  Sunday 
school  are  well  attended  there  is  poverty  of  social 
life  for  the  young,  and  this  most  certainly  means  a 
scattering  of  the  growing  generation  in  the  near 
future.  Indeed,  the  prejudice  among  many  religious 
parents  of  the  country  communities  against  any 
form  of  social  life  for  their  children  is  most  aston- 
ishing. And  yet  we  believe  that  this  prejudice  will 
soon  yield  to  the  force  of  new  ideals. 

In  many  of  the  rural  neighborhoods  there  is  al- 
ready in  existence  some  form  of  dancing  club,  the 
conduct  of  which  is  often  open  to  the  most  serious 
criticism.  In  such  case  we  recommend  that  no  di- 
rect attack  be  made  upon  the  dancing  society  or  its 
members.  Indeed,  we  would  caution  against  arous- 
ing antagonism  under  such  circumstances,  and 
would  recommend  that  the  leaders  of  the  new  social 
life  already  suggested  make  their  organization  and 
activities  more  attractive  and  more  appealing  to  the 
old  and  young  members  of  the  community  than  the 
less  worthy  forms  of  social  practice. 


^  Editor's  Note  :  All  or  nearly  all  of  the  activities  men- 
tioned in  this  chapter  are  being  conducted  by  the  organized 
teen  age  Sunday  school  classes  and  departments.  The  Inter- 
national Sunday  School  Association's  Bulletin  of  Information 
can  be  secured,  giving  nearly  a  thousand  such  activities  cen- 
tering around  the  Bible  in  the  Sunday  school  class. 

The  creation  of  extra  organizations  for  secretarial,  civic 
and  social  activity  is  deplored  in  recommendation  4  in  the 
chapter  on  "The  Individual"  and  under  Social  Conditions  in 
the  chapter  on  "Conditions  Affecting  Adolescence  in  Rural 
Districts."  All  agree  as  regards  the  need  of  cooperative  ac- 
tivities. 


Chapter  IX 

THE  RURAL  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  ORGANIZED 
FOR  ADOLESCENT  DEVELOPMENT 

Other  Committees  appointed  by  the  Commission 
for  the  Study  of  the  Adolescent  Period  as  Related 
to  the  Country  Sunday  School  have  devoted  their 
attention  to  the  conditions  which  surround  the  Sun- 
day school  and  which  contribute  to  its  success  or 
failure.  It  remains  for  this  paper  to  deal  definitely 
with  "The  Rural  Sunday  School  Organized  for 
Largest  Service  in  the  Development  of  the  Adoles- 
cent in  the  Rural  Community."  This  is  the  crux  of 
the  whole  matter,  for  to  the  country  Sunday  school, 
more  than  to  any  other  organization,  the  world  is 
turning,  and  must  turn,  for  the  development  of  the 
rural  youth  in  moral  and  religious  character. 

The  Rural  Community.  In  defining  a  country 
Sunday  school  it  is  essential  that  one  should  have  a 
clear  understanding  as  to  what  constitutes  a  rural 
community.  As  commonly  understood,  a  rural  com- 
munity is  a  group  of  people  living  in  the  open  coun- 
try ;  but  to  residents  of  large  cities  or  populous  cen- 
ters the  rural  community  includes  the  suburban 
population  and  residents  of  surrounding  smaller 
towns.  There  are,  however,  many  purely  industrial 
centers  of  less  than  2,000  which  possess   marked 

87 


88       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

urban  characteristics  which  have  been  transmitted 
to  them  through  trolley  line  connection  with  large 
industrial  cities.  On  the  other  hand,  many  com- 
munities of  more  than  2,000  population,  shipping 
points  or  trading  centers  for  farmers,  or  residential 
towns  for  retired  farmers,  possess  decided  rural 
tendencies. 

The  United  States  Government,  in  the  last  report 
issued  from  its  Educational  Department,  fixes  all 
people  living  in  communities  of  less  than  2,500  in 
the  rural  class.  Taking  the  United  States  as  a 
whole,  these  figures  are  doubtless  correct.  In  this 
article,  however,  the  term  **rural  community"  is  con- 
strued to  mean  a  group  of  people  living  either  in  the 
open  country  or  in  villages  of  less  than  2,000  popu- 
lation. 

A  Paramount  Factor.  Viewed  from  many  stand- 
points, the  rural  Sunday  school  is  the  most  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  whole  Sunday  school  scheme.  The 
reasons  are  obvious.  First,  rural  Sunday  schools 
make  up  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  Sunday  school 
family.  Second,  they  are  found  everywhere.  Third, 
they  reach  proportionately  more  boys  and  girls  in 
the  early  years  than  do  urban  schools.  For  these 
reasons  the  rural  Sunday  school  is  to-day  being 
stressed  as  never  before  in  the  interest  of  the  solu- 
tion of  the  country  problem  in  its  moral  and  relig- 
ious aspects. 

The  Rural  School  of  the  Past.  The  rural  school 
of  yesterday,  loose-jointed  and  imperfect  as  it  was, 
was  the  forerunner  of  the  school  of  to-day.  It 
began  as  a  children's  school  in  which,  before  the 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development       89 

day  of  the  public  school,  children,  and  occasionally 
adults,  studied  the  "Sunday  School  Spelling  and 
Reading  Book,"  recited  the  Catechism,  and  memo- 
rized Scripture  for  rewards.  In  time  came  the  ques- 
tion book,  then  the  lesson  leaves,  then  the  lesson 
quarterlies.  Along  with  these  were  introduced  song 
rolls,  leaf  clusters,  the  blackboard,  and  other  equip- 
ment through  which  the  school  was  assisted  to  do 
better  work.  The  Bible  became  more  generally  used 
in  the  school-room,  and  the  Sunday  school  entered 
upon  an  era  of  great  improvement.  The  children 
and  the  boys  and  girls  were  large  in  the  eyes  of  the 
school,  and  special  attention  Avas  given  to  them — to 
their  comfort  and  to  their  instruction;  but  the  adol- 
escent was  overlooked.  Somehow  he  was  aban- 
doned as  a  hopeless  proposition.  In  fact,  he  was 
regarded  as  an  ''impossible,"  and  was  occasionally 
"fired,"  as  shown  in  Hymn  61  in  the  "Sunday  School 
Hymnal,"  published  early  in  the  last  century,  which 
is  announced  as  a  hymn  to  be  sung  on  the  occasion 
of  "The  Dismission  of  an  Incorrigible  Scholar."  The 
first  verse  is  as  follows : 


'How  dreadful  to  be  turned  away 
In  anger  from  our  place. 

May  we  be  careful  every  day 
For  fear  of  such  disgrace." 


Few  men  in  those  days  attended  the  school  ses- 
sions, and  the  youth,  imitating  the  adults,  con- 
ceived that  the  manly  thing  for  a  big  boy  to  do 
was  to  "quit."  The  Sunday  school  seemingly  didn't 
care. 


90       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

In  the  matter  of  teacher  training  there  was  a  little 
sporadic  Normal  Class  work  in  those  days,  but  most 
teachers  were  not  specially  fitted,  either  by  selection 
or  training,  for  masterful  work.  A  few  trained  and 
educated  public  school  teachers  were  skilled  in  Sun- 
day school  work,  but  the  average  teacher  had  little 
knowledge  of  the  pupil,  the  Bible,  or  the  principles 
of  education  which  govern  in  all  teaching.  How- 
ever, the  intense  earnestness  of  many  of  the  early 
teachers  not  otherwise  qualified,  and  the  evangelis- 
tic emphasis  given  the  teaching,  was  remarkably 
blessed  of  God ;  for  out  of  the  Sunday  school  teach- 
ing of  the  past  have  come  the  leaders  of  to-day,  who 
are  now  zealously  correcting  past  Sunday  school 
errors. 

The  city  has  largely  been  the  beneficiary  of  the 
country  Sunday  school  of  yesterday.  With  the  ex- 
odus of  youth  from  the  country  toward  the  city  the 
country-bred  Christian  men  and  women,  products 
of  the  rural  Sunday  school,  have  become  and  are 
to-day  officers  of  the  city  churches,  superintendents 
and  teachers  in  city  schools,  and  Christian  "stal- 
warts" in  the  commercial  and  professional  life  of 
the  city.  The  rural  Sunday  school  of  yesterday  has 
largely  conserved  the  spiritual  life  of  the  city 
church.  One  dares  not  conjecture  what  Christianity 
in  the  city  would  have  become  were  it  not  for  the 
leaven  of  Christianity  which  the  rural  Sunday 
schools  have  poured  into  urban  communities 
through  the  lives  of  men  whose  early  Christian 
teaching  and  whose  conversion  are  due  to  the  rural 
Sunday  school  of  yesterday. 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development       91 

Notwithstanding  the  truth  of  the  above,  the  aver- 
age rural  Sunday  school  has  not  kept  pace  with  the 
times.  While  it  has  furnished  many  noble  and 
strong  men  for  the  cities,  it  has  largely  failed  to 
liberally  provide  for  the  local  community  its  own 
Christian  citizenship.  Many  boys  who  left  the  rural 
Sunday  school  with  a  Christian  bias  have  been 
gripped  in  the  city  by  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  the  Organized  Adult  Class,  or  the 
strong  and  attractive  city  churches;  whereas,  the 
average  rural  adolescent  who  left  the  Sunday  school 
at  fourteen  and  remained  at  home  has  not  been  won 
back  to  the  rural  school  nor  to  the  rural  church, 
because  of  the  failure  of  the  rural  school  to  make  a 
place  for  him. 

The  Rural  School  of  To-day.  The  rural  Sunday 
school  of  to-day  finds  itself  in  a  new  era.  It  faces 
new  conditions.  The  extension  of  public  school 
education  into  rural  communities,  the  emphasis 
given  scientific  farming,  the  science  of  soil  analysis, 
soil  feeding,  seed  selection,  germ  destruction,  cement 
construction,  the  use  of  gasoline  as  a  propelling 
power  for  farm  machinery,  the  advent  of  the  auto- 
mobile, the  extension  of  trolley  lines,  and  the  em- 
phasis upon  college  education  as  an  essential  for 
successful  farming,  have  in  a  measure  checked  the 
emigration  from  the  open  country  to  the  city.  The 
rural  adolescent  in  increasing  numbers  is  remaining 
at  home  or  on  the  farm,  and  is  available  as  a  Sun- 
day school  asset.  The  rural  Sunda)^  school  is  now 
facing  as  never  before  the  responsibility  of  shaping 
the  lives  of  rural  youth.    The  moral  and  religious 


9^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

salvation  of  the  rural  community  is  to-day  depen- 
dent upon  the  rural  Sunday  school  reorganized  and 
vitalized  to  meet  the  situation — a  school  so  charged 
with  magnetic  power  that  it  will  draw  to  it  the  rural 
adolescent. 

Essential  Qualities  of  the  Rural  School.  If  the 
country  Sunday  school  of  to-day  is  to  command  the 
respect  and  interest  of  the  rural  adolescent  and  win 
him  to  its  sessions  and  its  activities  it  must  possess 
an  attractive  individuality  and  a  wholesome  inspir- 
ing atmosphere.  To  him  it  must  be  more  than  a 
"joke"  or  an  apology.  It  must  be  a  well-organized 
school,  with  a  practical  program.  Be  the  Sunday 
school  well  officered  and  prompt  in  its  introductory 
worship  period,  be  its  teachers  well  equipped  and 
punctual  in  their  attendance,  be  the  courses  of  study 
fitted  to  the  unfolding  adolescent  years,  be  its  Sec- 
ondary and  Adult  Classes  organized  for  real  busi- 
ness, if  it  has  strong  music,  a  good  Superintendent 
of  few  words,  worshipful  opening  exercises,  a  busi- 
ness-like dispatch  of  the  school  program,  and  real 
zeal  in  winning  and  culturing  youth,  it  will  grip  the 
adolescent. 

The  rural  school  which  is  attractive  to  the  adol- 
escent must  therefore  speedily  become  an  efficient 
school,  carefully  organized,  with  its  several  classes 
or  departments  graded  and  well  developed.  The 
school  must  be  more  than  an  aimless  meeting,  more 
than  a  perfunctory  service.  It  must  be  a  real  school, 
with  elements  of  dignity,  purpose,  and  strength. 
These  qualities  are  possible  to  the  sjnall  school,  and 
are  to-day  found  in  many  of  the  best  small  rural 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development       93 

schools.  Be  not  deceived  with  the  will-o'-the-wisp 
of  "size,"  for  youth  is  captured,  not  so  much  by 
numbers  in  the  school  as  by  the  strength  of  the 
school,  its  real  educational  and  spiritual  value,  and 
the  place  it  provides  for  youth  in  its  Sabbath  and 
week-day  program. 

The  reason  why  the  rural  school  has  not  better 
held  its  adolescent  pupil  is  because  he  has  never 
been  seriously  considered  in  the  school  plans,  and 
has  not  been  regarded  as  a  "worth-while"  factor  in 
the  school  life. 

The  School  Organizatiom  The  modern  efficient 
rural  Sunday  school  should  be  organized  into  the 
following  Divisions,  and  when  the  school  is  suffi- 
ciently large  the  Divisions  should  be  subdivided  into 
departments  or  classes: 

I.  Elementary  Division  (birth  to  12  years),  4  De- 
partments or  Classes ;  (a)  Cradle  Roll  Department 
(o  to  3)  ;  (b)  Beginners'  Department  (3,  4,  5)  ;  (c) 
Primary  Department  {6,  7,  8)  3  grades ;  (d)  Junior 
Department  (9,  10,  11,  12)  4  grades. 

II.  Secondary  Division  (13  to  19  inclusive),  2  De- 
partments or  Classes:  (a)  Intermediate  Department 
(13,  14,  15,  16)  4  grades;  (b)  Senior  Department 
(17,  18,  19)  3  grades. 

III.  Adult  Division  (20  and  over),  as  many  classes 
as  desired,  men,  women,  or  mixed. 

It  should  also  have  a  Home  Department,  Organ- 
ized Classes,  a  Missionary  Committee,  a  Temper- 
ance Committee,  and  such  other  features  as  are  in- 
cluded in  the  goal  for  Standard  Schools   (inquire 


94       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

for  same  of  the  State  Sunday  School  Association  or 
your  own  denominational  Sunday  School  Board). 

In  addition  to  the  teachers  the  school  should  have 
the  following  officers,  which,  combined,  constitute 
the  Sunday  school  cabinet :  Pastor,  Superintendent, 
Associate  Superintendent,  Secretary,  Treasurer, 
Superintendent  of  Classification,  Cradle  Roll  Super- 
intendent, Beginners'  Superintendent  or  Teacher, 
Primary  Superintendent  or  Teacher,  Junior  Super- 
intendent or  Teacher,  Intermediate  Superintendent 
or  Teacher,  Senior  Superintendent  or  Teacher,  Adult 
Superintendent  or  Teacher,  Home  Department 
Superintendent,  Librarian,  Organist,  Chorister. 

Small  schools  may  look  upon  such  a  required  list 
of  officers  as  super-organization.  However,  if  the 
school  is  to  be  converted  into  an  efficient  working 
machine  these  officers  should  be  recognized.  Many 
of  the  superintendencies  may  be  assigned  as  teach- 
ers in  the  respective  departments.  Their  duties  are 
so  well  understood  that  none  but  those  of  the  Super- 
intendent, Associate,  and  the  Classification  Superin- 
tendent are  here  considered. 

The  Superintendent.  The  rural  Sunday  school 
should  have  an  efficient  man  for  superintendent, 
for  it  is  he  who  makes  or  breaks  the  school.  The 
superintendent  largely  limits  the  work.  The  school 
can  scarcely  rise  higher  than  are  his  ideals  as  to 
what  a  Sunday  school  should  be.  The  work  of  the 
superintendent  is  a  "man's  job" ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is 
a  big  job ;  and  it  should  command  the  time,  thought, 
and  devotion  of  a  man  who  in  a  marked  degree  pos- 
sesses   qualities    of    organization    and    leadership. 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development       95 

Where  such  a  man  is  not  available  the  next  best 
man  should  be  secured,  while  the  school  diligently 
seeks  to  find  or  train  a  man  fitted  to  the  task.  The 
best  schools  in  these  days  are  training  their  super- 
intendents. Select  a  promising,  bright,  developing 
young  man  who  consents  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
work.  Make  him  temporarily  the  Associate  Super- 
intendent. At  the  expense  of  the  school  provide 
him  with  books  on  "The  Sunday  School  at  Work" 
and  kindred  text-books  for  Sunday  school  superin- 
tendents. Send  him  to  State  Conventions  and  Sum- 
mer Training  Schools  where  he  can  study  at  the 
feet  of  masters  in  Sunday  school  work.  Send  him 
away  to  visit  several  successful  schools  as  an  ob- 
server. Superintendents  should  be  retained  as  long 
as  the  school  prospers  and  is  kept  abreast  of  the 
times  in  Sunday  school  efficiency,  and  no  longer. 

If  the  Sunday  school  is  not  gaining  it  is  losing. 
If  it  is  not  improving  it  is  deteriorating;  if  it  is  slug- 
gish and  sleepy  and  slow  the  superintendent  needs 
to  be  quickened  or  excused. 

The  Associate  Superintendent.  This  officer 
should  share  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the 
superintendent,  and  each  Sunday  be  given  some 
work  from  the  platform.  He  should,  if  possible,  be 
a  young  man,  selected  to  become  the  superinten- 
dent's understudy — a  man  in  training  for  the  posi- 
tion in  the  event  of  change.  He  should  be  encour- 
aged to  fit  himself  by  study  and  observation  for  his 
prospective  position,  and  should  be  given  oppor- 
tunity occasionally  to  superintend  the  school. 
Every  superintendent  owes  it  to  himself  and  to  the 


9^       The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

school  to  welcome  such  an  associate,  and  should 
take  pride  in  insuring  for  the  school  a  trained  super- 
intendent in  the  event  of  death  or  removal. 

The  Classification  Superintendent.  To  this  offi- 
cer should  be  committed  the  assignment  of  all  new 
pupils  to  their  proper  classes.  The  more  thoroughly- 
graded  the  school,  the  more  the  need  of  such  an 
officer.  He  or  she  should,  if  possible,  be  a  public 
school  teacher,  or  one  who  knows  the  grading  of 
the  public  schools.  It  is  important  that  pupils 
under  twenty  should  be  placed  in  classes  where 
they  are  grouped  with  their  kind  in  mental  or  edu- 
cational standing.  T,he  superintendent  will  often 
be  saved  embarrassment  by  having  such  an  officer 
whose  decisions  are  authoritative.  The  Classifica- 
tion Superintendent  may  be  one  of  the  teachers  or 
possibly  one  of  the  adult  pupils. 

The  Physical  Conditions.  If  the  rural  Sunday 
school  is  to  be  organized  for  largest  service  in  the 
development  of  the  adolescent  the  physical  condi- 
tions as  to  building,  equipment,  etc.,  should  be 
studied. 

I.  The  Building.  Scarcely  too  much  stress  can  be 
placed  upon  the  utility  of  the  building  in  which  the 
rural  school  meets.  The  churches  now  in  use  are 
not  to  stand  forever.  When  the  new  building  comes 
it  should  be  built  for  to-morrow,  not  for  to-day. 
New  village  and  open-country  churches  are  going 
up  everywhere.  Some  are  planned  to  better  house 
the  Sunday  school.  Most  of  them,  however,  are 
planned  and  constructed  by  building  committees 
which  have  little  conception  of  the  modern  educa- 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development       97 

tional  demands  upon  the  Sunday  school,  be  it  big  or 
little.  Their  notion  is  to  have,  at  least  once  on 
Sunday,  the  "dear  little  children"  and  everybody 
else  thrown  together  in  one  room.  The  whole  archi- 
tectural plan  of  the  building  is  surrendered  to  this 
bit  of  "sentimentalism."  When  on  rare  and  special 
occasions  it  is  desirable  to  assemble  the  whole 
school  in  one  place  the  church  auditorium  may  be 
used.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Simday 
school  must  more  and  more  become  "a  school,"  and 
it  will  increasingly  need  separate  rooms  in  which, 
Vv^ithout  interfering  with  or  disturbing  each  other, 
the  several  departments  can  work  out  their  depart- 
mental problems.  Church  and  Sunday  school  archi- 
•tects  who  fail  to  appreciate  this  are  handicapping 
for  years  to  come  the  efficiency  and  usefulness  of 
the  school. 

Multiplied  thousands  of  Sunday  schools,  however, 
meet  in  one-room  churches.  Many  of  these,  with 
comparatively  little  expense,  can  build  an  annex  or 
wing,  and  thus  provide,  at  least  for  the  Elementary 
Division  of  the  school,  a  bright  cheery  room,  sub- 
divided into  three,  for  the  use  of  the  Beginners  and 
Primary  Departments  or  Classes,  and  the  nine,  ten, 
and  eleven-year  old  boys  and  girls  in  the  Junior 
Department.  Where  these  changes  cannot  be  made 
a  proper  use  of  curtains  hung  on  wires,  or  the  use 
of  portable  screens,  will  provide  separate  places  for 
departmental  or  class  instruction.  Superintendents 
of  even  the  smallest  schools  should  study  the  build- 
ing, and  organize  the  floor  space  with  a  view  to  giv- 
ing each  group  of  pupils,  by  departments  or  classes, 


9^       The  Teens  arid  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

a  definite  "spot"  which  belongs  to  them,  and  from 
which  they  pass  on  promotion  to  some  other  "spot" 
of  higher  grade  or  rating. 

2.  Seating.  Inasmuch  as  one-half  of  the  Sunday 
schools  in  America  are  held  in  one  room  and  are 
seated  with  stationary  pews,  how  can  the  seating  ia 
such  churches  be  utilized?  Certainly  the  two  "Amen 
Corners"  can  be  cleared  of  the  pews  and  small 
chairs  of  three  sizes  can  be  substituted  for  the  use 
of  the  children  under  six  and  between  six  and  nine. 
Curtains  or  portable  screens  can  shut  off  these  cor- 
ners and  convert  them  into  separate  places  or  rooms 
for  the  Beginners  or  Primaries.  The  gallery,  if 
there  be  one,  can  be  likewise  seated  for  an  adult  or 
secondary  class.  Where  the  space  between  the  pews 
is  generous  every  other  pew  with  little  cost  can  be 
made  convertible.  This  change  will  make  it  pos- 
sible for  the  members  of  the  class  to  be  seated  op- 
posite each  other,  and  at  the  same  time  be  grouped 
about  the  teacher. 

In  churches  where,  in  addition  to  the  church  audi- 
torium, one  or  more  extra  rooms  are  used  for  the 
Beginners  and  Primary  Departments  the  seating 
should  consist  of  three  sizes  of  chairs.  In  churches 
where  separate  rooms  are  available  for  Sunday 
school  purposes  the  most  desirable  seat  is  a  chair, 
rendered  noiseless  in  handling  by  the  use  of  rubber 
tips.  Chairs  yield  to  departmental  and  grade  di- 
visions and  uses.  They  are  far  more  comfortable 
than  pew  or  settee. 

3.  Bibles.  Plenty  of  them.  Encourage  each  mem- 
ber of  the  school  to  purchase  and  use  his  own  Bible, 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development       99 

but  have  enough  Bibles  on  hand,  the  property  of 
the  school,  to  provide,  if  necessary,  one  to  each 
pupil.  A  school  equipped  with  Bibles  has  taken  a 
long  step  toward  making  the  school  a  real  Bible 
school. 

4.  Maps.  A  set  of  good  clear  outline  maps  of 
Bible  lands.  He  who  teaches  Bible  history  without 
maps  is  as  lame  as  would  be  a  teacher  of  ancient  or 
medieval  or  modern  history  without  a  geography. 
A  missionary  map  of  the  world  should  frequently  be 
displayed. 

5.  Singing  Books.  Select  books  which  contain  the 
strong,  inspiring,  dignified,  worshipful,  and  deeply 
religious  hymns  of  the  Church  ;  such  hymns  should 
be  memorized.  They  will  live  forever.  Avoid  the 
light,  rag-time,  popular,  trashy  music  with  nothing 
in  it  but  jingle.  The  Sunday  school  attractive  to 
the  adolescent  is  one  in  which  are  often  sung  the 
hymns  that  have  stood  the  test  of  years  and  have 
an  established  place  in  the  hymnology  of  the 
Church.  These  will  create  in  the  school  an  atmos- 
phere of  reverence  and  worship  secured  in  no  other 
way. 

6.  Mottoes.  Neat  illuminated  texts,  mottoes,  or 
striking  expressions  of  great  missionaries  and  Chris- 
tian statesmen  should  be  hung  on  the  wall  and  often 
read  by  the  school  in  concert.  They  should  be  fre- 
quently changed  to  freshen  the  attractiveness  of 
the  school-room. 

7.  Pictures.  Decorate  the  room  with  reproduc- 
tions of  Bible  scenes  and  characters  painted  by  the 
great  masters,  portraits  of  noted  missionaries,  noble 


lOO     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

churchmen,  great  exemplary  characters  of  history, 
and  the  martyrs. 

8.  Flags.  Display  before  the  school  at  each  ses- 
sion at  least  two  flags :  "Old  Glory"  and  the  "Flag 
of  the  Church,"  or  the  "Conquest  Flag." 

9.  Attendance  Bulletin  Board  through  which  the 
record  of  attendance  and  offering  both  present  and 
past  are  displayed  each  week  in  contrast. 

10.  A  Workers'  Library  containing  books  on  mod- 
ern Sunday  school  w^ork,  books  written  to  help  the 
teachers  who  wish  to  specialize  in  their  several 
grades ;  a  good  Bible  Dictionary  and  reference  books 
for  Bible  study.  In  other  words,  give  the  officers 
and  teachers  literature,  through  a  study  of  which 
they  may  become  better  equipped  for  their  work. 

11.  A  Blackboard  and  other  equipment  required 
in  an  up-to-date  Sunday  school. 

Lesson  Material.  In  considering  the  organization 
of  the  rural  school  for  largest  service  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  adolescent  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Intermediate  and  Senior  Departments  and 
the  Adult  Division  cannot  be  made  what  they  should 
be  unless  the  whole  school  is  improved.  The  adol- 
escent of  to-morrow  is  to-day  in  the  Elementary 
Grades.  The  improvement  must  begin  there  and  be 
carried  through  all  departments  of  the  school.  The 
adolescent  must  be  captured  as  a  child,  and  the  at- 
tractions of  school  environment  and  educational 
material  must  be  so  carried  up  into  the  teen  years 
that  in  adolescence  the  school  is  as  attractive  as  in 
childhood.    This  compels  a  square  look  at  the  ques- 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development     loi 

tion  of  lesson  material  in  all  departments  of  the 
school. 

A  large  number  of  the  small  schools  in  the  open 
country  use  the  International  Uniform  Lessons 
throughout  the  entire  school.  An  increasing  num- 
ber of  schools,  however,  both  in  the  open  country 
and  in  villages,  are  using  Graded  Courses  in  the 
Beginners  and  Primary  Grades,  and  continuing 
through  the  Junior  Grade,  while  some  have  ex~ 
tended  their  use  through  the  Intermediate  and  into 
the  Senior  Grades  with  varying  degrees  of  success. 

Inquiries  from  country  schools  are,  however,  in- 
creasingly numerous  as  to  how  to  use  or  adapt  the 
Graded  Lessons  to  the  small  rural  school.  To  all 
such  schools  it  should  be  said  that  in  the  larger 
rural  schools  the  present  courses  of  Graded  Lessons 
are  usable.  In  the  very  small  school  it  is  impos- 
sible to  establish  as  many  grades  as  are  required  to 
use  the  lesson  courses  just  as  they  are  planned. 

Begimiers  and  Primary.  In  these  grades  the  pres- 
ent Graded  Lesson  Course  can,  by  teaching  the 
course  consecutively  year  after  year  to  all  of  the 
children  in  each  department,  be  used  in  any  school. 
Should  there  be  only  two  or  three  pupils  in  the  Be- 
ginners' Class  or  Department,  they  should  have 
their  lesson  quite  apart  from  the  Primary. 

Junior.  Fitting  the  course  to  the  Junior  is  some- 
what of  a  problem.  As  the  lessons  are  at  present 
arranged  it  is  impossible  to  use  the  books  prepared 
for  the  fourth  year  Junior  lessons  in  a  class  in 
which  are  all  of  the  boys  or  girls  or  both  from  nine 
to  twelve  years  of  age.    The  lesson  text  might,  how- 


102     7'he  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

ever,  be  used,  the  scrap-books  being  made  by  the 
children,  the  teacher  carefully  guiding.  She  should 
need  to  prepare  her  own  book  in  advance.  This, 
however,  will  mean  more  original  work  on  the  part 
of  the  teachers. 

Intermediate.  Where  Intermediate  lessons  are  in- 
troduced into  a  small  school  the  problem  is  to  find 
enough  teachers  to  follow  a  plan  of  lessons  adequate 
to  the  needs  of  the  various  ages  taught.  One  of  the 
mistakes  made  in  many  schools,  large  and  small,  ur- 
ban and  rural,  is  that  teachers  believe  that  classes, 
to  do  effective  work,  must  be  large.  Indeed,  quite 
the  opposite  is  true.  Large  groups  should  be  used 
for  social  work,  etc.,  but  for  the  lesson  teaching 
much  better  results  will  be  obtained  in  the  class  of 
four  or  five.  Even  here  there  is  always  the  difficulty 
of  securing  a  sufficient  number  of  efficient  teachers. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  greatest  force  in 
the  life  of  the  ideal-forming  early  adolescent  is  per- 
sonality. ''Personality  is  the  vernacular  in  which 
ideals  speak  to  youth."  It  is  well,  therefore,  to  put 
the  boys  and  girls  of  13,  14,  and  15  into  one  class 
and  use  the  biographical  lessons  of  the  First  and 
Second  Year  of  the  Graded  Intermediate  Series, 
with  an  outline  study  of  the  life  of  Jesus  prepared 
similarly  to  the  Fourth  Year  Junior  work.  This 
method  will  preclude  the  advantage  of  building 
upon  the  work  of  the  previous  year,  but  it  will  have 
the  advantage  of  acquainting  the  pupil  with  the 
great  heroes  of  the  Church,  and,  best  of  all,  with  the 
one  Great  Hero. 

Senior.    In  a  small  school  pupils  in  the  later  adoles- 


Organization  for  Adolescent  DevelopTnent     103 

cent  years  would  also  necessarily  be  grouped  in  one 
class.  In  such  a  class  careful  study  should  be  made 
of  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  and  of  the  great  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ:  its  organization,  ordinances,  rela- 
tion to  kindred  organizations,  etc.  Upon  this  kind 
of  teaching,  with  pupils  in  later  adolescence,  depends 
much  of  the  future  of  the  rural  church.  If  they  can 
be  given  a  vision  of  the  Universal  Church  of  God 
with  its  mighty  possibilities  they  will  not  be  con- 
tent, as  have  been  their  fathers,  to  see  the  good  of 
the  whole  community  handicapped  because  of  de- 
nominational differences  and  because  of  a  mistaken 
"loyalty"  to  a  particular  branch  of  the  Christian 
church.  The  church — undivided — in  the  rural  com- 
munity will  more  and  more  become  a  community 
center — not  only  of  religion,  but  of  the  whole  life. 

With  16  to  20-year  pupils  there  should  be  also  the 
study  of  the  Bible  by  books.  A  wealth  of  material 
is  available  for  this  work.  It  may  be  obtained  from 
the  various  Graded  Lesson  Courses,  from  Teacher 
Training  Books,  and  many  other  sources.  A  senior 
class  may  elect  to  take  up  a  Teacher  Training 
Course  of  study,  the  entire  class  taking  the  biblical 
part  of  the  course,  with  each  member  specializing 
(outside  the  Sunday  school  hour)  in  the  department 
of  Sunday  school  work  in  which  he  or  she  is  spe- 
cially interested.  Thus  the  Senior  Class  will  be 
training  the  teachers  and  officers  of  the  school  for 
the  early  future. 

Extended  into  the  Week-day.  No  Sunday 
school,  rural  or  urban,  is  at  its  best  if  it  confines  its 
activities  to  the  Sabbath.    Efficient  schools  are  more 


I04     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

and  more  interested  in  the  week-day  life  of  their 
pupils,  and  are  providing  means  to  meet  the  social, 
mental,  and  physical  hunger  of  the  adolescent.  And 
this  is  being  done  in  the  village  and  open  country. 
The  Organized  Class  provides  a  means  for  working 
out  many  practical  plans  for  week-day  activity. 
Many  pastors  and  teachers  are  gripping  the  Inter- 
mediates through  tramps  and  hikes  in  connection 
with  which,  for  a  whole  season,  groups  study  bird 
life,  insects,  forestry,  botany,  rock  formation,  pho- 
tography, and  other  subjects  of  fascinating  interest 
to  all  boys  and  girls.  Baseball  clubs  and  tennis 
teams,  under  Sunday  school  leadership,  capture  boys 
through  the  play  life.  A  Sunday  school  camp,  in 
which  groups  of  boys  and  girls  in  turn,  each  with 
proper  chaperonage,  enjoy  a  week  in  the  woods, 
with  all  the  accompanying  sports  of  fishing,  swim- 
ming, boating,  camp  fires,  etc.  Basket  ball,  micro- 
scope parties,  stereopticon  entertainments,  musicals, 
sleigh-ride  parties,  etc.,  are  provided  for  winter 
evenings.  Skating  and  coasting  invite  to  outdoor 
life  in  winter.  All  these  are  utilized  by  many  vil- 
lage and  open  country  schools  with  success,  and 
hold  to  the  school  the  interest  of  the  adolescent. 

Community  School  Cooperation 

I.  For  School  Improvement.  In  the  matter  of 
school  improvement,  Sunday  schools  can  do  to- 
gether that  which  they  cannot  do  separately.  In 
every  community  there  are  problems  common  to  all 
schools,  which  cannot  be  solved  by  any  one  of  them. 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development     105 

Separated  as  they  have  always  been  by  denomina- 
tional lines,  each  school  working  for  itself,  the 
problem  of  the  Sunday  school  as  an  efficient  moral 
and  religious  educational  institution  in  the  commun- 
ity remains  unsolved  until  the  schools  unite,  on 
common  ground,  without  the  discussion  of  doctrine 
or  polity,  to  reach  the  last  boy  and  girl,  the  last 
youth,  the  last  man  and  woman,  and  the  last  home 
in  the  community.  This  Sunday  school  team-work 
in  the  interest  of  improved  schools  is  provided  for 
by  the  Interdenominational  Organized  Sunday 
School  Work  through  the  Town  or  District  Sunday 
School  Association,  under  whose  auspices  are  held 
conventions  and  institutes,  served  by  Sunday  school 
experts.  These  conventions  are  clearing  houses  for 
the  exchange  of  Sunday  school  plans,  methods  of 
teaching,  etc.  It  is  there  the  strong  school  helps 
and  inspires  the  weak  one,  and  the  strong  school 
also  learns  where  it  is  weak  and  discovers  a  remedy. 

Under  the  leadersliip  of  the  Town  or  District  As- 
sociations local  school  conventions  should  be  held, 
perhaps  consisting  of  an  evening  session  only,  in 
which  certain  county  departmental  specialists  deal 
alone  with  the  local  school  problems,  and,  in  coun- 
sel with  the  pastor,  superintendent,  and  teachers, 
impart  to  the  school  the  help  which  that  particular 
school  needs  to  reach  the  ''Standard"  or  ''Efficiency" 
goal  of  ten  points  of  excellence.  In  course  of  a 
year  each  Sunday  school  in  the  town  or  district 
should  be  the  beneficiary  of  such  specific  and  prac- 
tical help  brought  to  its  very  doors. 

Rural   schools   w^hich    keep   in   vital   touch   with 


lo6     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

county  and  town  or  district  conventions,  and  are 
regularly  represented  by  the  superintendent  and 
pastor  and  teachers  in  such  conventions,  are  invari- 
ably the  most  efficient  schools. 

2.  For  Community  Improvement.  Aside  from  the 
affiliation  of  the  rural  schools  in  the  Town  Associa- 
tion in  the  interest  of  general  Sunday  school  im- 
provement, there  is  another  school-cooperative- 
movement  in  the  interest  of  community  welfare. 
This  is  due  to  the  new  vision  of  community  uplift, 
through  which  many  schools  are  ministering  to 
community  welfare  along  every  line  related  to  moral 
and  religious  community  betterment.  This  they  are 
doing  through  the  self-same  Town  and  District  As- 
sociations in  which  they  unite  for  Sunday  school 
improvement. 

This  is  a  far  broader  objective  than  Bible  teach- 
ing. The  Bible  teaching  school  steps  out  into  the 
week-days,  and  through  the  Rural  Department  of 
the  Town  or  District  Sunday  School  Association 
seeks  to  cooperate  with  the  County  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  the  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association,  the  Grange,  the  Day  Schools,  and 
other  organizations  which  have  as  their  objective 
the  vitalizing  of  community  life. 

The  Rural  Department  usuall}^  introduces  its 
work  with  a  survey  of  community  life  which  is  more 
than  a  house-to-house  visitation  in  the  interest  of 
the  church  or  school.  It  is  a  survey  in  the  interest 
of  the  discovery  of  the  special  needs  of  the  com- 
munity and  includes  a  definite  knowledge  of  every 
phase  of  the  community  life,  including  its  popula- 


Organization  for  Adolescent  Development     107 

tion,  industries,  civic,  educational,  social,  recreative, 
and  federated  interests. 

The  work  of  the  Rural  Department  is  under  the 
care  and  supervision  of  the  Township  Rural  Super- 
intendent, who  is  in  close  contact  with  the  County 
and  State  Rural  Department  Superintendents.  The 
Township  Rural  Superintendent  should  be  the  rec- 
ognized representative  of  all  the  schools  in  their 
cooperative  community  welfare  work.  He  is  to 
gather  the  surplus  or  waste  material,  or  literature, 
books,  etc.,  from  the  schools  and  distribute  the 
same;  organize  Sunday  schools  in  neglected  com- 
munities ;  provide,  in  connection  with  the  state 
(where  states  furnish  them)  traveling  libraries  to 
schools  or  for  the  community;  arrange  for  educa- 
tional lectures  with  lantern  slides  covering  Tem- 
perance, Hygiene,  Social  Problems,  Travel,  Indus- 
tries, Community  Betterment,  and  foster  and  super- 
vise the  social  and  athletic  life  of  the  town,  union 
Sunday  school  picnics,  and  field  days. 

In  this  article  the  writer  has  not  aimed  to  make 
the  rural  Sunday  school  satisfied  with  its  present 
achievements.  He  has  rather  sought  to  create  a 
wholesome  discontent  with  the  old  order  of  rural 
Sunday  school  work  and  to  set  before  schools  pres- 
ent-day ideals  as  to  what  the  rural  Sunday  school 
of  to-day  should  be,  and  what  it  should  do  for  itself, 
its  neighboring  Sunday  schools,  and  the  community 
life. 

The  suggestions  given  are  born  of  experience  and 
observation.  Only  such  plans  have  been  suggested 
as  have  been  successfully  worked  out  in  many  rural 


io8     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

schools,  schools  which  are  conspicuous  because  of 
success  in  holding  their  youth  and  in  contributing 
to  the  moral  and  religious  development  of  the  adol- 
escent in  the  rural  community. 


Chapter   X 

SUMMARY    AND    CONCLUSIONS    OF    THE 

ADOLESCENT  COMMISSION  FOR  THE 

RURAL  SUNPAY  SCHOOL 

The  reports  of  the  various  Committees  of  the 
Rural  Sunday  School  Commission,  appearing  in  the 
foregoing  chapters,  have  covered  the  main  lines  of 
investigation  and  also  the  larger  problems  of  the 
rural  Sunday  school.  This  chapter  is  a  summary 
of  the  material  offered  in  the  preceding  chapters, 
together  with  such  other  material  and  opinions  as 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Commission  could 
secure,  as  a  brief,  general  statement  of  the  whole 
problem.  There  may  appear  to  be  some  duplication 
or  even  difference  in  recommendation  in  this  sum- 
mary, nevertheless  it  seems  best  to  the  Commission 
to  present  its  findings  in  this  manner. 

The  Importance  of  the  Rural   Sunday   School 

The  Importance  of  Rural  Life.  We  must  learn 
to  approach  the  problem  that  lies  in  front  of  every 
social  institution  by  endeavoring  to  discover  the 
real  reason  for  its  continued  existence;  in  other 
words,  by  trying  to  learn  its  function.     We  ought 

109 


1 10     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

to  be  willing  to  discard  outworn  social  institutions, 
as  well  as  to  adapt  efficient  institutions  to  human 
need  as  it  develops  under  different  and  changing 
conditions  of  society. 

We  cannot,  therefore,  understand  the  importance 
of  the  rural  Sunday  school,  and  if  necessary  reshape 
it,  unless  we  understand  its  place  in  rural  life;  and 
its  place  in  rural  life  is  determined  in  part  by  the 
significance  of  rural  life  itself.  If  we  think  of  the 
rural  people  as  simply  so  many  human  beings  choos- 
ing to  earn  their  living  by  tilling  the  soil,  and  of  the 
farm  problem  as  chiefly  the  problem  of  assisting 
those  people  to  grow  a  larger  food  supply  for  the 
rest  of  the  world,  we  can  find  little  need  for  the 
Sunday  school  or  for  any  other  institution  which 
interests  itself  in  the  higher  life  of  the  countryman. 
The  real  importance  of  rural  life  lies  in  the  fact 
that  we  have  in  America  over  fifty  millions  of  peo- 
ple living  under  rural  conditions.  The  growth  of 
great  cities;  the  concentration  of  wealth  in  a  few 
hands,  largely  in  the  cities;  the  development  of 
modern  facilities  of  communication  and  transporta- 
tion ;  the  amazing  array  of  means  of  entertainment 
or  enjoyment  which  the  cities  present;  the  steady 
drift  of  a  large  share  of  the  best  brain  and  virility 
of  the  country  communities  to  the  city;  the  increas- 
ing cost  of  land,  thus  making  it  more  difficult  to 
gain  access  to  the  soil ;  the  influx  of  foreign-speak- 
ing peoples  who  are  willing  temporarily  to  sacrifice 
standards  of  comfort,  to  which  the  American  farmer 
has  become  accustomed,  for  the  sake  of  securing  a 
foothold  on  the  land;  the  introduction  of  habits  of 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    m 

life  and  modes  of  thinking  alien  to  our  country  com- 
munities— all  of  these  things  bring  us  face  to  face 
with  a  problem  of  national  welfare  which  can  no 
longer  be  ignored  or  disregarded.  What  shall  be 
the  type  of  life  among  these  fifty  millions  of  rural 
people?  What  shall  be  the  character  of  coming 
generations  whose  number  is  sure  to  be  greater? 
What  shall  be  their  modes  of  thinking,  their  stand- 
ards of  morals?  How  are  they  to  fulfil  the  complete 
obligations  of  citizenship?  Are  they  to  be  inferior 
to  the  people  of  the  cities?  Is  the  rustic  to  take  the 
place  of  the  independent  American  farmer — the 
peasant  to  supersede  the  yeoman? 

The  Importance  of  the  Spiritual  or  Religious  Ele- 
ment in  Rural  Life.  To  the  man  who  interprets 
success  in  terms  of  economic  gain,  or  who  believes 
that  the  foundations  of  morality  lie  in  knowledge 
rather  than  in  motive,  institutions  similar  to  the 
Sunday  school  make  little  appeal.  Economic  effi- 
ciency is  unquestionably  the  foundation  for  a  per- 
manent rural  life.  But  we  believe  with  all  our 
hearts  that  the  most  significant  phase  of  the  rural 
question  is  how  this  economic  prosperity  may  ulti- 
mately be  put  to  the  highest  spiritual  uses.  To 
Christian  men  and  women  the  idea  of  higher  spir- 
itual uses  signifies  immediately  that  type  of  life 
which  is  motived  and  molded  by  religion.  They 
hold  a  firm  belief  that  God  rules  the  world,  and  that 
the  work  of  man  is  a  partnership  with  God  in  a 
service  for  men  as  individuals  and  as  a  race.  To 
those  who  believe  thus  the  institutions  which  foster 
the  religious  spirit  are,  therefore,  the  institutions 


112     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

of  greatest  moment  in  any  movement  on  behalf  of 
rural  progress. 

The  Importance  of  the  Country  Church.  Conse- 
quently we  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  the  coun- 
try church  is  the  most  important  rural  institution, 
and  its  work  the  most  significant  and  far-reaching 
of  all  the  many  phases  of  the  rural  life  movement. 
If  we  desire  a  rural  civilization  based  on  other  foun- 
dations than  those  of  material  prosperity,  if  we 
cherish  the  hope  of  maintaining  upon  the  land  a 
fertile  seed-bed  of  great  men  and  women,  if  we  de- 
sire to  retain  as  soil-workers  the  highest  type  of 
American  citizenship,  we  believe  it  imperative  that 
the  Church,  as  the  great  foster-mother  of  the  re- 
ligious motive,  shall  have  real  leadership  in  any 
movement  intended  to  usher  in  the  new  day. 

The  Importance  of  the  Rural  Sunday  School.  The 
extent  to  which  the  Sunday  school,  as  distinguished 
from  the  Church,  is  to  be  a  factor  in  rural  life  de- 
pends upon  the  conception  of  the  work  of  the  Sun- 
day school  as  an  institution.  If  we  think  of  it  as  a 
school  of  religious  education,  embracing  adults  as 
well  as  youth  and  children,  we  see  at  once  that  it 
must  have  a  prime  place  in  our  rural  institutional 
life.  Even  if  its  function  be  limited  to  the  religious 
training  of  the  young,  it  must  still  play  a  most  im- 
portant part.  Its  greatest  value,  however,  in  our 
judgment,  will  be  shown  by  this  test :  Can  it  hold 
to  itself  the  youth  of  both  sexes?  Can  the  boys  and 
girls  of  the  ages  from  twelve  to  twenty  be  kept  in 
the  rural  Sunday  school?  Here  is  the  whole  prob- 
lem in  a  nutshell.    Under  modern  conditions,  if  an 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    113 

institution  for  the  study  of  the  Bible,  either  as  a 
religious  book  or  as  a  guide  to  a  practical  life,  or 
both,  can  succeed  in  retaining  the  interest  of  a 
great  majority  of  boys  and  girls  until  they  have 
reached  the  age  of  eighteen  or  nineteen  years,  that 
institution  will  have  a  more  powerful  molding  in- 
fluence upon  the  life  and  character  of  our  American 
nation  than  any  other  single  influence  within  its 
borders. 

This  broad  statement  is  made  without  any  quali- 
fication and  is  based  on  two  or  three  simple  prin- 
ciples: 

1.  That  the  ages  from  twelve  to  twenty  are  the 
most  impressionable  in  the  life  of  the  individual. 
It  is  in  this  period  of  life  that  dynamic  and  guiding 
ideas  are  likely  to  root  themselves  in  the  heart. 

2.  If  the  religious  motive  can  at  this  time  of  life 
be  made  the  dominant  motive  it  will  be  the  greatest 
single  factor  in  the  development  of  the  best  life  of 
the  individual  and  of  the  community. 

3.  That  the  fact  that  the  Sunday  school  can  re- 
tain the  interest  of  its  pupils  during  this  period  is 
of  itself  evidence  of  its  influence  and  of  the  molding 
power  that  it  exerts. 

The  Sunday  School  the  Key  to  the  Country  Church 
Situation.  So  keenly  do  we  feel  the  possibilities  of 
the  country  Sunday  school  that  we  do  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  one  of  the  most  powerful  agencies  in 
bringing  the  country  church  to  its  normal  leader- 
ship in  the  country  life  movement  is  the  revivified 
Sunday  school.  Within  ten  years  boys  and  girls  at 
present    in    the    teen    age    will    be    the    men    and 


1 14     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

women  most  completely  alive  to  the  new  demands 
upon  the  country  church — if  they  are  in  the  church ; 
and  if  they  are  not  in  the  church  the  country  church 
will  be  in  worse  condition  than  it  is  to-day.  The 
rural  Sunday  school,  then,  in  large  measure,  holds 
the  key  to  the  country  church  situation,  and  the 
country  church,  in  our  philosophy  of  country  life, 
holds  the  key  to  the  highest  type  of  rural  develop- 
ment. And  the  question  whether  we  are  to  have  the 
very  highest  type  of  intellectual  and  social  and 
moral  life  out  in  the  open  country  is  indisputably 
one  of  the  prime  problems  of  the  twentieth  century 
in  America. 

We  are  quite  aware  that  by  somewhat  similar 
logic  the  indispensable  character  of  other  institu- 
tions for  the  training  of  youth  might  also  be  estab- 
lished, and  Ave  are  ready  to  admit  the  logic  and  to 
join  with  those  who  plead  for  a  better  rural  school, 
for  larger  recreative  facilities  for  boys  and  girls  in 
the  country,  or  for  any  other  institutions  or  agencies 
that  bring  zest  to  life  in  the  country  or  that  enlarge 
its  opportunities.  But  we  assert  that  inasmuch  as 
the  religious  motive  is  the  only  sufficient  motive  in 
the  life  of  men,  the  institution  most  completely  re- 
sponsible for  the  development  of  the  religious  mo- 
tive at  the  time  of  life  when  the  motive  must  take 
root,  is  the  most  important  institution  connected 
with  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  human  life. 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    Ii5 

The  Present  Situation   in   the  Rural   Sunday 
School 

We  must  face  squarely  the  actual  situation  that 
confronts  the  rural  Sunday  school  of  to-day.  If  it 
is  possible  for  us  to  find  out  the  facts  we  must 
know  them,  no  matter  how  discouraging  a  condition 
they  may  reveal.  From  the  statistical  point  of  view 
the  situation  seems  to  be  somewhat  as  follows : 

The  Deficiencies  in  the  Rural  Sunday  School.  A 
canvass  of  the  entire  commission  on  the  question, 
What  are  the  main  defects  in  the  present  rural 
Sunday  school  situation?  brought  varying  answers, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  a  surprising  unanimity  on 
certain  main  points.  These  agreements  may,  there- 
fore, be  summarized  somewhat  as  follows : 

1.  A  Lack  of  Competent  Leadership.  This  has 
reference  largely  to  the  lack  of  trained  teachers  and 
supervisors — the  difficulty  of  finding  persons  who 
know  how  to  make  the  rural  Sunday  school  at- 
tractive to  young  people,  and  who  can  build  up  a 
permanent  institution  that  abides  the  frequent 
change  of  personnel  that  every  Sunday  school  must 
undergo.  This  also  recognizes  the  lack  of  super- 
vision by  the  denominational  bodies  particularly 
charged  with  the  work  of  Sunday  school  develop- 
ment. 

2.  Inadequacy  of  Teaching  Material.  There  is  a 
firmly  rooted  conviction  on  the  part  of  our  commis- 
sion that  in  the  country  Sunday  school  we  should 
interpret  the  Bible  in  terms  of  the  every-day  life- 
experience  of  the  boys  and  girls,  and  that  whenever 


Ii6     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

those  experiences  are  developed  in  a  rural  environ- 
ment that  environment  must  serve  as  the  back- 
ground for  effective  teaching.  This  implies  an  ex- 
isting failure  to  provide  just  the  right  sort  of  helps, 
as  well  as  an  adequate  supply  of  teachers  who  can 
teach  in  this  way. 

3.  The  Inadequacy  of  Equipmenf.  A  very  large 
proportion  of  the  small  country  churches  have  but 
one  room.  Many  of  them  have  no  maps,  nothing 
with  which  to  work,  in  fact,  very  little  to  indicate 
that  the  institution  is  really  a  school. 

4.  Failure  to  Understand  the  Real  Task.  A  funda- 
mental defect  is  a  failure  to  understand  the  real 
work  of  the  Sunday  school,  its  place  in  the  com- 
munity, the  actual  task  it  has  in  hand,  and  hence 
to  organize  the  right  sort  of  program  to  make  the 
Sunday  school  effective. 

Other  deficiencies  are  suggested,  but  these  seem 
to  be  the  main  criticisms  of  the  present  situation. 
The  extent  to  which  they  are  valid  depends  in  a 
large  measure  upon  our  belief  in  the  possibilities 
of  such  an  institution  as  the  Sunday  school.  Of 
course,  if  we  have  in  mind  an  ideal  Sunday  school, 
it  is  easy  to  point  out  most  glaring  defects,  but  we 
believe  that,  judged  even  by  practical  and  reason- 
able standards  of  achievement,  on  the  whole  the 
rural  Sunday  school  of  the  period  is  in  a  bad  way. 
It  is  not  retaining  the  youth,  and  consequently  it  is 
not  doing  its  work.  The  Church  is  dependent  upon 
the  Sunday  school  to  bring  its  own  children  even- 
tually into  the  Church.    And  if  the  children  do  not 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    117 

stay  in  the  Sunday  school  how  can  they  cross  the 
bridge  into  the  Church? 

The  Advantages  of  the  Rural  Sunday  School. 
But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  rural  Sunday 
school  situation  is  wholly  disheartening.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  in  many  of  the  better  farming  regions 
the  country  Sunday  schools  are  in  as  good  condition 
as  they  are  in  large  sections  of  our  cities,  when 
judged  by  their  success  in  retaining  the  young  peo- 
ple. It  is  difficult  to  analyze  a  situation  of  this  sort 
without  seeming  to  forget  the  magnificent  work  that 
is  being  done,  the  large  number  of  devoted  and  in- 
telligent helpers  who  are  rendering  a  significant 
service.  For  the  fact,  after  all,  remains  that  human 
institutions  fall  short  of  our  ideals  for  them.  The 
rural  Sunday  school  is  not  a  dead  institution. 

Economic  Conditions  as  Affecting  the  Sunday 
School.  Studies  by  the  Sub-commission  on  Survey 
bring  out  pretty  clearly  the  fact  that  in  a  great 
many  rural  communities  the  proportion  of  the  peo- 
ple near  the  ragged  edge  industrially  is  so  great  that 
resources  for  the  adequate  support  of  the  institu- 
tions of  religion  are  quite  lacking.  Consequently 
the  statesmen  of  the  Sunday  school — and  this  ap- 
plies equally  to  the  Church — must  join  hands  with 
those  who  are  endeavoring  to  build  up  more  effi- 
cient farming,  because  only  on  the  foundation  of 
greater  economic  prosperity  can  permanent  rural 
institutions  be  reared. 

Tenant  Farming  as  Affecting  Religion.  Reports 
also  indicate  that  wherever  tenant  farming  has  be- 
come dominant  interest  in  Sunday  school  is  at  a  low 


Ii8     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

ebb.  This  seems  to  be  due,  not  merely  to  the  fact 
that  in  some  sections  the  new  people  are  of  a  differ- 
ent class,  and  perhaps  bring  their  own  religious 
institutions  with  them,  but  also  to  the  fact  that, 
being  tenants,  and  often  temporary  tenants,  they 
have  less  interest  in  the  institutions  of  the  com- 
munity. 

The  Influence  of  Foreign-Speaking  People.  To 
an  increasing  degree  the  Protestant  Sufiday  school 
situation  in  country  districts  is  being  complicated 
by  an  influx  of  foreign-speaking  peoples.  These 
people,  though  usually  with  large  families,  are  in  a 
sense  not  "material"  for  the  rural  Sunday  school 
which  we  are  now  discussing.  As  a  rule  they  bring 
their  own  language  as  well  as  religious  institutions 
with  them,  and  do  not  amalgamate  ecclesiastically 
with  the  older  American  types  with  whom  they  cast 
their  lot. 

The  Place  of  the  Sunday  School  in  Rural  Life 

We  must  cease  to  regard  institutions  as  ends  in 
themselves.  Their  aim  and  methods  should  be 
tested  and  retested  in  terms  of  the  human  needs 
which  they  serve  and  for  which  it  is  believed  they 
are  indispensable,  or  at  least  highly  important. 
Doubtless  a  statement  of  the  real  work  of  the  rural 
Sunday  school  would  be  phrased  by  different  indi- 
viduals in  diverse  ways.  It  is  necessary,  however, 
as  a  prerequisite  to  a  large  development  of  rural 
Sunday  school  work  that  the  leaders  may  agree  in 
substance,   if  not   in   phraseology,   upon   the   main 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    119 

task  which  the  Sunday  school  is  set  to  perform.  We 
have  endeavored  to  formulate  this  task,  not  in  pre- 
cise scientific  thought,  but  by  simply  and  in  general 
terms  indicating  what  we  believe  to  be  the  function 
of  the  rural  Sunday  school  as  an  organ  of  service 
on  behalf  of  the  higher  interests  of  our  rural  people. 

The  Fundamental  Function  of  the  Sunday  School. 
The  Sunday  school  is  the  Church  at  work  in  a  par- 
ticular manner.  The  Sunday  school  is  not  a  sepa- 
rate institution.  It  should  always  be  regarded  as 
a  means  by  which  the  Church  seeks  to  accomplish 
a  definite  end.  Broadly  speaking,  the  Sunday  school 
is  a  school  of  character  building,  in  which  the  em- 
phasis is  laid  upon  religion  as  the  governing  motive 
of  life.  Its  mission  is  more  particularly,  though  not 
exclusively,  to  the  younger  children  and  youth.  It 
is  an  educational  institution,  but  it  has  a  very  defi- 
nite objective.  That  objective  is  the  development 
of  Christian  character. 

Its  Aim  and  Purpose.  The  immediate  aim  and 
purpose  of  the  Sunday  school  is  to  utilize  the  Bible 
as  the  supreme  religious  literature  of  the  race,  and 
the  chief  means  of  developing  Christian  character. 
Bible  study,  therefore,  is  the  core  of  the  Sunday 
school.  But  in  order  to  make  the  study  effective  the 
Sunday  school  must  teach  in  the  terms  of  life  and 
experience  which  the  pupils  appreciate  and  under- 
stand. The  inculcation  of  religious  principles  ap- 
plied to  the  whole  range  of  human  life  as  it  is 
actually  lived  by  the  pupils  is  the  important  aim  and 
purpose  of  the  Sunday  school.  The  teaching,  there- 
fore, must  not  be  academic,  but  practical,  and  all  the 


I20     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

processes  to  attain  their  full  value  must  be  in  har- 
mony with  the  laws  of  character  development. 

Program  for  the  Rural  Sunday  School.  If  the 
Sunday  school  clearly  understands  its  task  it  will 
naturally  develop  a  definite  program  consisting  of  a 
few  main  lines  of  effort,  a  program  which  can  be 
adapted  to  use  under  varying  conditions,  the  details 
of  which  must  be  applied  by  each  Sunday  school 
for  itself.  Such  a  program  v/ould  be  illustrated  by 
the  following  outline : 

1.  The  rural  Sunday  school  should  have  definite 
courses  of  instruction,  with  the  Bible  as  the  basis, 
although  not  the  exclusive  material  of  teaching,  sup- 
plemented by  such  helps  as  will  explain  religious 
principles  and  their  application  to  affairs  of  indi- 
viduals and  to  society. 

2.  It  should  seek  to  include  as  many  individuals 
as  possible,  not  only  the  children  and  the  youth,  but 
also  the  adults;  not  only  the  people  in  the  Church, 
but  all  in  the  community  who  can  be  induced  to 
come.  While  the  Sunday  school  is  the  Church  at 
work  in  a  particular  way,  it  should  be  considered 
not  merely  an  appendage  of  the  Church,  but  a 
unique  means  and  opportunity  for  religious  educa- 
tion that  is  otherwise  not  likely  to  be  provided. 

3.  It  should  seek  to  impress  its  spirit  upon  the 
daily  activities  of  its  pupils,  and  to  that  end  it 
should  develop  activities  that  make  it  in  the  minds 
of  its  pupils  a  continuing  and  pervasive  influence 
and  not  a  separate,  single  hour  of  the  week  with  no 
relationships  to  daily  living  and  thinking. 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    121 

The  Relationships  of  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

1.  To  the  Home.  The  tendency  of  the  modern 
home  is  to  shift  its  responsibilities  in  a  considerable 
degree  to  the  day  school,  to  the  Church,  and  to  vari- 
ous associations  and  organizations.  In  a  measure 
this  tendency  is  inevitable,  but  it  is  accompanied  by 
serious  losses.  The  Sunday  school  should  con- 
sciously seek  to  enlist  the  home  as  its  ally ;  or  to  put 
the  matter  even  more  strongly,  it  should  consider 
itself  as  an  ally  of  the  home,  and  should  endeavor 
to  bring  the  parents  of  children  who  are  pupils  in 
the  Sunday  school  to  aid  definitely  in  the  task  of 
training  the  children  in  Christian  character.  A 
well-regulated  home  life  can  perhaps  dispense  with 
the  Sunday  school,  although  that  is  doubtful.  It  is 
possible  that  the  ideal  Sunday  school  can  make  up 
for  serious  deficiencies  in  the  home  life,  although 
that  also  is  doubtful.  But  it  is  only  when  the  more 
formal  and  definite  teachings  of  the  Sunday  school 
can  be  supplemented  by  both  the  teachings  and  ex- 
ample of  the  home  that  we  can  expect  the  results 
we  desire. 

2.  To  the  Church.  The  most  natural  outcome  of 
the  work  of  the  Sunday  school  should  be  cherished 
— the  participation  in  the  work  of  the  Church.  The 
Sunday  school  should  be  considered  the  vestibule  to 
the  Church.  The  transition  from  prime  interest  in 
the  Sunday  school  to  prime  interest  in  the  Church 
should  be  as  natural  as  the  growth  from  youth  to 
manhood  and  womanhood.  This  is  the  ideal  rela- 
tionship. 


122     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

3.  To  Young  People's  Societies.  There  are 
those  who  believe  that  the  day  of  the  young  people's 
society  has  passed  and  that  a  well-regulated  Sunday 
school  would  make  such  societies  unnecessary. 
However  this  may  be,  there  ought  to  be  here,  too, 
a  close  relationship.  If  the  young  people's  society 
can  be  dispensed  with,  let  us  not  retain  it.  If  it  is 
a  reflection  on  the  efficiency  of  the  Sunday  school, 
let  us  make  the  Sunday  school  what  it  ought  to  be. 
If  the  two  institutions  really  serve  useful  ends, 
neither  of  which  can  be  accomplished  by  the  other, 
let  us  keep  them  both,  and  let  us  so  weld  them  to- 
gether that  they  may  not  only  not  conflict,  but  may 
supplement  each  other. 

4.  To  the  Day  School.  There  can  be  no  organic 
connection  between  the  Sunday  school  and  publicly 
supported  day  schools,  but  there  ought  to  be  the 
most  intimate  spiritual  connection  between  the  two. 
The  teaching  of  the  day  school  cannot  be  formally 
directed  toward  inculcating  the  Christian  motive 
through  study  of  religious  literature,  but  it  should 
be  a  means  of  character  building.  It  should  be  per- 
meated by  the  Christian  spirit.  Its  atmosphere 
should  be  the  atmosphere  of  love  and  of  devotion 
to  the  truth.  There  should  be  no  hiatus  between 
the  teaching  of  the  Sunday  school  and  the  daily  life 
of  the  school. 

5.  To  Recreative  and  Social  Life'.  Of  course  the 
Christian  spirit  should  pervade  recreation  and  so- 
ciability. To  this  extent  the  Sunday  school  relates 
itself  intimately  to  these  phases  of  the  life  of  youth. 
The  question  is  at  once  raised,  however,  whether 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    125 

the  Sunday  school  as  an  institution  shall  take  over, 
in  part  or  wholly,  the  recreative  and  social  activities 
of  youth  which  are  numerous,  and  which  should  be 
carried  out  in  some  organized  fashion.  We  believe 
firmly  and  enthusiastically  that  the  Sunday  school 
may  well  take  to  itself  recreative  and  social  func- 
tions ;  that  is,  it  may,  through  various  devices,  min- 
ister to  the  normal  desires  and  needs  of  youth  on 
the  recreative  and  social  side.  We  believe,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  unwise  to  insist  that  the  Sunday 
school  shall  be  the  only,  or  even  the  chief,  center  of 
the  interest  of  youth  along  these  lines. 

It  is  easy  to  magnify  the  work  of  a  single  institu- 
tion like  the  Sunday  school  by  arguing  that  because 
its  motive  is  the  highest  possible  motive — the  de- 
velopment of  Christian  character — and  that  because 
Christian  character  is  made,  not  by  teaching  alone, 
but  by  the  formation  of  habits  amidst  the  normal 
activities  of  life,  therefore,  the  logical  outcome  of 
Sunday  school  work  is  to  take  over  all  the  activities 
of  youth  in  order  that  youth  may  have  a  consistent 
Christian  training.  We  must  recognize  the  prin- 
ciple of  division  of  labor  among  institutions.  In 
our  opinion  organized  social  and  recreative  life  can 
best  be  fostered  by  organizations  framed  for  that 
purpose,  either  through  the  schools  or  through  pub- 
lic playgrounds,  or  through  specially  organized 
groups. 

We  recognize  that  it  is  possible  and  desirable  to 
vastly  enlarge  the  function  of  the  Sunday  school  in 
ministering  to  the  play  instincts  of  the  boys  and 
girls.     Our  counsel  concerning  this  situation  may 


124     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

be  put  in  a  sentence :  Make  the  Sunday  school,  so 
far  as  possible,  a  natural  center  around  which  may 
gather  the  recreative  and  social  activities  of  its 
members,  but  do  not  assume  that  it  can  be  or  should 
be  the  only  organized  institution  which  is  to  lead 
in  the  recreative  life  of  the  community. 

Adults  in  the  Sunday  School.  The  rural  Sunday 
school  probably  contains  a  larger  proportion  of 
adults  than  does  the  urban  Sunday  school.  The 
traditional  Sunday  school  is  for  children.  The  prob- 
lem that  this  commission  has  set  for  itself  is  to  de- 
termine whether  there  are  not  means  of  keeping 
youth  in  the  Sunday  school.  In  order  to  do  this  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  suggest  that  the  presence  of 
a  fair  proportion  of  adults  in  constant  attendance 
at  the  Sunday  school,  not  in  a  perfunctory  way  or 
simply  as  a  matter  of  conscience,  but  as  interested 
learners  in  common  with  the  children  and  youth, 
is  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of  maintaining 
the  prestige  of  the  Sunday  school.  It  is  just  be- 
cause the  elders  have  relegated  the  Sunday  school 
to  the  children  that  the  youth  on  the  verge  of  man- 
hood and  womanhood  come  to  despise  the  Sunday 
school. 

The  Organization  of  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

This  question  is  so  thoroughly  treated  as  a  spe- 
cific topic  in  the  report  of  the  sub-commission  on 
this  subject  that  your  executive  committee  desires 
to  make  only  a  few  observations  of  a  general  char- 
acter. 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    125 

1.  Grading.  The  rural  Sunday  school  can  be 
less  easily  graded  than  the  urban  Sunday  school, 
and  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  that  grading  should 
not  be  imposed  upon  the  rural  Sunday  school.  The 
fact  that  a  graded  Sunday  school  works  well  in  the 
city  is  no  reason  why  it  will  work  well  in  the  coun- 
try. The  time  to  grade  a  rural  Sunday  school  and 
the  method  of  grading  it  must  be  determined  by  the 
needs  of  the  school,  and  not  by  any  official  edict, 
or  by  any  hard  and  fast  plan  laid  down  by  outside 
agencies.  Unquestionably  some  measure  of  grad- 
ing should  be  introduced  even  in  the  smaller  Sun- 
day schools.  There  should  be  an  intelligent  pro- 
gression in  the  work.  Hit-or-miss  methods  should 
be  discarded,  simply  because  they  are  ineffective. 
Grading  is  merely  a  device  based  on  the  funda- 
mental principle  that  teaching  must  be  adapted  to 
the  growing  mind  of  the  pupil. 

2.  Supervision.  The  smaller  the  school  the 
less  the  need  of  machinery,  and  consequently,  the 
less  the  need  of  supervision.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  smaller  the  school,  the  greater  the  need  of  con- 
stant, enthusiastic  leadership.  Possibly  the  small 
rural  Sunday  school  can  learn  more  from  the  advice 
of  experts  and  the  experience  of  other  Sunday 
schools  than  is  the  case  in  the  large  urban  Sunday 
school,  because  the  latter  is  likely  to  have  larger 
resources  of  initiative  and  leadership  within  its  own 
ranks.  Supervision  is  essential,  but  supervision 
may  be  carried  to  the  extreme  of  creating  depen- 
dence. Wise  supervision  consists  in  suggestion  and 
stimulus  rather  than  dictation  or  responsibility. 


126     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

3.  Committees.  The  rural  Sunday  school  is  a 
distinct  problem,  and  on  this  account,  as  well  as  be- 
cause of  the  need  of  the  right  sort  of  supervision,  we 
believe  that  there  should  be  formed  as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable in  every  state  a  well-organized  Rural  Sun- 
day School  Committee.  Such  a  Committee,  under 
wise  leadership,  will  not  only  develop  methods  spe- 
cially adapted  to  the  rural  Sunday  school,  but  will 
also  create  enthusiasm  and  esprit  de  corps  among 
rural  Sunday  school  workers. 

4.  A  National  Board  of  Experts.  It  is  probably 
impracticable  to  have  in  each  state  a  group  of  ex- 
perts in  rural  Sunday  school  work  who  can  give  all 
their  time  to  rural  Sunday  schools.  But  it  is  not 
too  much  to  expect  that  a  National  Board  of  Ex- 
perts (or  a  Committee  of  the  International  Sunday 
School  Association)  in  Rural  Sunday  School  Work 
can  be  maintained  who  can  give  their  service  to  the 
rural  Sunday  school  departments  in  the  several 
states.  In  this  way  there  may  be  developed  a 
closely  knit,  and  yet  an  elastic,  form  of  supervision 
and  organization  of  the  whole  rural  Sunday  school 
movement. 

Some  Specific  Problems  of  the  Rural  Sunday 
School 

Religious   Teaching,    the   Primary   Work.     We 

must  keep  in  mind  that  the  building  of  Christian 
character  is  the  objective  of  the  Sunday  school,  and 
that  to  a  very  large  degree  the  use  of  the  Bible  is 
the  chief  dependence  in  the  Sunday  school.    There 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    127 

are  certain  aspects  of  the  work  of  the  Sunday  school 
growing  out  of  this  prime  purpose  that  call  for  sup- 
plementary work.     Some  of  these  we  now  mention. 

Special  Rural  Sunday  School  Helps.  Several  of 
the  sub-commissions  have  emphasized — some  of 
them  very  strongly  indeed — that  we  need  specially 
constructed  lesson  helps.  The  principle  on  which 
these  suggestions  are  made  is  the  sound  pedagogic 
notion  that  the  most  effective  teaching  is  in  terms  of 
the  environment  of  the  individual  learner.  The  ap- 
plication of  this  principle  to  the  rural  Sunday  school 
means  that  the  teaching  will  become  much  more  ef- 
fective and  abiding  if  the  illustrative  material  and 
the  applications  of  the  teaching  consist  in  those 
things  that  surround  the  pupil — that  is,  rural  life. 

The  point  is  also  made  that  the  Bible,  and  espe- 
cially the  teachings  of  Christ,  are  full  of  references 
to  rural  life,  largely,  of  course,  because  a  consider- 
able proportion  of  the  life  of  the  people  that  is 
recorded  in  the  Bible  was  a  rural  life.  Your  com- 
mittee endorses  this  principle,  but  with  one  caution. 
We  must  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  put  in  the  posi- 
tion of  advocating  that  only  that  teaching  is  effec- 
tive which  teaches  in  terms  of  the  immediate  and 
known  environment  of  the  pupil.  We  desire  to 
swing  away  from  that  academic  method  of  teaching 
which  takes  the  pupil  utterly  out  of  relationship  to 
his  experience.  But  there  is  also  a  peril  in  the 
method  of  teaching  by  environment — a  narrow  hori- 
zon and  a  stifled  ambition.  Teaching  by  environ- 
ment should  lead  naturally  to  the  enlargement  of 


128     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

"environment,"  by  imagination,  to  take  in  the  whole 
range  of  human  experience. 

The  Inculcation  of  Rural  Beauty.  One  of  the 
most  rewarding  opportunities  of  the  rural  Sunday 
school,  which  is  now  almost  entirely  neglected, 
though  it  grows  immediately  out  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible,  and  especially  the  teachings  of  Jesus, 
concerns  itself  with  the  beauty  and  poetry  of  coun- 
try life.  The  most  religious  experience  in  the  farm- 
er's life  is  attained  when  the  farmer  becomes  con- 
scious that  he  is  directly  in  partnership  with  God 
himself,  and  acts  upon  that  consciousness.  The 
farmer's  task  is  nothing  less  than  to  serve  as  the 
steward  of  God  on  behalf  of  the  fundamental  work 
of  feeding  the  human  race. 

The  farmer  ought  to  be  the  most  religious  man  in 
the  world,  because  more  intimately  than  any  other 
man  does  he  work  day  in  and  day  out  with  those 
primary  forces  of  nature  that  the  Christian  believes 
to  be  simply  the  expressions  of  God's  will  and 
method.  So,  too,  the  farmer  lives  day  by  day  close 
to  the  heart  of  the  Eternal.  If  there  be  any  beauty 
in  the  world  he  should  see  it  and  feel  it.  The  pos- 
sibilities of  personal  culture,  the  development  of  a 
genuine  religious  spirit,  the  attainment  of  real  con- 
tent are  all  based  very  largely  upon  the  realization 
on  the  part  of  the  farmer  that  he  is  working  with 
God,  and  that  he  is  in  intimate  touch  with  the  pri- 
mary sources  of  beauty  and  of  poetic  and  spiritual 
feeling.  Now  there  is  no  better  place  than  the 
rural  Sunday  school  for  inculcating  this  attitude 
toward  rural  life.    It  is  eminently  religious,  and  it 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    129 

is  eminently  rewarding  both   for  teacher  and  for 
pupil. 

Special  Activities  of  the  Sunday  School 

We  have  already  referred  to  this  phase  of  the 
Sunday  school  problem.  It  is  brought  in  here 
simply  because  it  forms  one  of  the  specific  problems 
of  the  revived  rural  Sunday  school.  When  we  dis- 
cuss the  social  and  recreative  activities  possible  in 
the  rural  Sunday  school  we  must  also  consider  the 
relationships  of  the  Sunday  school  to  the  commun- 
ity in  general.  If  there  are  adults  in  the  .Sunday 
school,  why  should  not  the  Sunday  school  become 
the  center  from  which  shall  radiate  movements  for 
the  improvement  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  life  of 
the  community?  If  this  ideal  is  carried  out  then  the 
social  and  recreative  activities  fostered  by  the  Sun- 
day school  will  soon  be  supplemented  by  many 
community  enterprises  initiated  in  behalf  of  the 
best  life  of  the  community. 

It  seems  to  your  committee  that  two  or  three 
principles  of  action  may  be  laid  down  as  a  safe 
guide  for  developing  the  social  and  community  side 
of  the  Sunday  school,  without  taking  the  position 
that  it  is  the  only,  or  perhaps  the  chief,  community 
activity  for  these  ends. 

I.  We  may  safely  urge  that  the  rural  Sunday 
school  develop,  so  far  as  it  can,  its  social  and  rec- 
reative and  community  activities.  It  should  do 
this,  however,  not  for  the  sake  of  supplanting  some 
other  institution,  but  simply  because  it  believes  that 


130     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

more  can  be  accomplished  in  this  way  than  in  any 
other  for  the  upbuilding  of  Christian  individuals 
and  a  Christian  community. 

2.  Division  of  labor  betv^^een  the  Sunday  school 
and  other  institutions  and  activities  should  be 
frankly  recognized. 

3.  The  cooperation  of  all  the  Sunday  schools  in 
the  same  community  should  be  considered  as  abso- 
lutely essential.  So  long  as  we  have  denominations 
we  shall  have  separate  Sunday  schools.  But  the 
definite  cooperation  of  all  the  Sunday  schools  in 
many  common  ends  should  be  regarded  as  a  funda- 
mental part  of  the  rural  Sunday  school  program. 
The  federation,  or  cooperation,  of  rural  Sunday 
schools  should  be  one  of  the  great  objectives  of  our 
new  campaign  on  behalf  of  an  enlarged  rural  Sun- 
day school  work. 

Decision  Day.  One  of  the  devices  commended 
for  making  the  Sunday  school  work  really  effective 
is  Decision  Day.  This  has  a  two-fold  aspect:  first, 
appointing  a  day  on  which  young  people  are  in- 
vited to  decide  upon  permanent  and  avowed  alli- 
ance with  the  Church  as  an  institution,  and  to  estab- 
lish a  personal  relationship  with  God  as  their  Father 
and  with  Christ  as  their  Saviour  and  Leader; 
second,  securing  a  decision  to  pursue  some  definitely 
religious  vocation,  such  as  the  ministry,  missionary 
work,  or  forms  of  lay  religious  service.  The  relig- 
ious workers  of  the  world  must  come  very  largely 
from  the  Sunday  school,  and  heretofore  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  religious  workers  of  this  country 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    131 

at  least  have  come  from  the  rural  Sunday  school, 
which  is  still  an  important  source  of  supply. 

The  Training  of  Teachers  for  the  Rural  Sun- 
day School 

It  is  universally  conceded  that  one  of  the  great 
concerns  of  the  Sunday  school  is  the  supply  of 
trained  teachers.  The  Sunday  school  is  probably 
weaker  at  this  point  than  at  any  other.  It  is  de- 
pendent on  teachers  whose  services  are  given  in- 
termittently, and  on  faithful  teachers  who  have  in- 
sufficient qualifications  for  the  work.  In  the  rural 
Sunday  school  the  proportion  of  available  teachers, 
who  are  as  competent  as  untrained  teachers  can  be, 
is  probably  as  large  as  it  is  in  the  city,  but  the 
difficulty  of  getting  trained  teachers  is  much 
greater.  This  condition  is  sure  to  change.  We  find 
a  rapidly  increasing  number  of  young  men  and 
young  women  trained  in  agricultural  schools  and 
colleges  who  are  going  back  to  the  land.  The  qual- 
ity of  the  day  school  teachers  in  country  districts 
will  improve.  The  rural  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  is  rapidly  developing  leaders.  All  of 
these  persons  realize  as  never  before  their  function 
as  community-builders,  and  as  soon  as  they  realize 
that  the  rural  Sunday  school  is  one  of  the  most 
significant  institutions  for  community  building,  they 
may  be  counted  upon  to  ally  themselves  enthusias- 
tically with  the  Sunday  school,  so  that  we  may 
expect  in  the  course  of  time  the  addition  of  trained 
leadership  to  the  rural  Sunday  school  forces.    There 


13^     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

are,  however,  some  devices  which  can  be  utilized  in 
the  country  for  the  development  of  teachers. 

Conferences. — Conferences  for  rural  Sunday 
school  teachers  are  best  developed  under  the  leader- 
ship of  a  State  Rural  Sunday  School  Committee 
and  in  cooperation  with  a  National  Board  of  Rural 
Sunday  School  Experts  or  International  Sunday 
School  Association  Committee. 

Correspondence  Courses. — These  conferences 
should  be  followed  up  by  correspondence  courses, 
not  too  difficult,  designed  to  develop  the  teaching 
faculty  on  the  part  of  those  who  take  the  courses. 

Special  Institutions. — As  the  institutions  for  the 
training  of  rural  leaders  multiply,  they  are  sure  to 
call  attention  to  the  religious  side  of  country  life, 
and  it  will  not  be  long  before  we  may  expect  to  find 
in  our  country  communities  a  good  many  persons 
who  have  had  a  considerable  amount  of  special  train- 
ing in  religious  pedagogy. 

Probably  the  time  has  not  come  when  we  can 
expect  people  to  specialize  as  rural  Sunday  school 
teachers  and  train  themselves  in  special  institutions 
for  this  purpose.  We  must  rather  look  to  the  means 
of  assisting  those  who  are  to  live  in  the  country 
and  who  believe  in  the  Sunday  school  as  a  great 
agency  in  rural  community  building,  to  take  advan- 
tage of  such  devices  as  can  be  offered  for  coming 
into  touch  with  the  most  approved  methods  of  Sun- 
day school  work. 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    133 

Parents'  and  Teachers'  Associations 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  significance  of 
the  home  in  its  relation  to  the  Sunday  school.  This 
cannot  be  emphasized  too  strongly.  The  method 
of  bringing  about  closer  cooperation  lies,  we  believe, 
in  the  organization  of  associations  of  parents  and 
Sunday  school  teachers.  These  associations  need 
not  be  elaborate  organizations.  They  should  bring 
together  the  teachers  and  parents  of  pupils  in  all 
the  Sunday  schools  of  a  given  community  or  in  a 
given  group  of  communities;  and  the  discussion 
need  be  not  so  much  of  methods  and  devices,  as 
of  the  real  problems  of  living  that  exist  in  that 
community  and  affect  the  boys  and  girls.  In  thi-s 
way  opportunity  will  be  found  to  place  before  the 
parents  the  real  situation  and  possibly  the  real 
dangers  that  confront  their  boys  and  girls,  and  to 
secure  their  intelligent  aid  in  making  the  Sunday 
school  more  effective. 

The  Picture  of  the  Ideal  Rural  Sunday  School. — 
The  rural  Sunday  school  faces  a  great  opportunity. 
The  country  life  movement  is  growing  apace.  We 
have  determined  to  make  rural  life  all  it  ought  to 
be.  We  are  determined  that  the  business  of  agri- 
culture shall  flourish.  We  purpose  that  it  shall  be 
carried  on  with  a  high  degree  of  intelligence  and  in 
obedience  to  scientific  laws.  We  purpose  also  that 
the  life  of  the  countryman  shall  be  a  satisfying  and 
full  life.  We  recognize  that  the  hope  of  the  future 
in  the  country,  as  everywhere,  lies  with  its  young 
people.  We  believe  profoundly  that  we  cannot  have 


134     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

a  rural  civilization  of  the  type  that  we  desire,  un- 
less it  is  suffused  with  the  Christian  spirit.  We 
believe  that  the  rural  Sunday  school,  more  perhaps 
than  any  other  single  institution,  has  before  it  the 
task  of  spiritualizing  the  young  life  of  our  country 
neighborhoods,  and  consequently  of  laying  the  foun- 
dations for  a  Christian  rural  civilization. 

Thus  we  desire  to  have  in  every  rural  commun- 
ity a  Sunday  school  that,  conscious  of  its  oppor- 
tunity and  its  task,  develops  a  full  program ;  suc- 
ceeds in  interesting  all  of  the  children  and  j^outh 
of  the  community;  makes  its  teachings  so  vital  and 
so  human  that  sustained  m.embership  is  secured; 
and  so  connects  itself  with  the  lives  of  the  people 
that  its  influence  permeates  all  their  activities. 

Recapitulation  and  Recommendations 

The  best  approach  to  the  problem  of  the  rural 
Sunday  school  is  through  the  gates  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  importance  of  building  in  the  United 
States  an  adequate  rural  civilization.  If  we  cannot 
find  a  great  need  for  the  rural  Sunday  school  we  are 
no  longer  called  upon  to  discuss  it  as  an  institution. 
Hence  we  must  first  of  all  learn  the  significance  to 
American  national  life  of  the  agricultural  industry, 
of  the  agricultural  population,  and  of  the  problems 
that  the  people  of  the  farms  have  to  face  both  as 
workers  and  as  human  beings. 

We  must  also  appreciate  the  fact  that  tremendous 
forces  are  at  work  making  for  the  upbuilding  of 
agriculture  on  its  economic  side.    We  must  realize 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    I35 

that  in  comparison  with  the  activities  and  efficiency 
of  these  forces,  those  agencies  that  are  designed  to 
emphasize  the  spiritual  or  religious  element  have 
not  yet  aroused  themselves  nor  adapted  themselves 
to  the  new  need.  Hence  we  affirm  that  the  country 
church  and  its  allies  is  the  most  important  rural 
institution,  and  its  work  the  most  significant  and 
far-reaching  of  all  the  many  phases  of  the  rural  life 
movement. 

The  immediate  importance  of  the  Sunday  school 
is  based  on  two  or  three  simple  principles  :  (i)  That 
the  years  from  twelve  to  twenty  are  the  most 
impressionable  in  the  life  of  the  individual;  (2) 
That  the  religious  motive,  once  it  dominates  a 
person  of  this  age,  is  likely  to  be  the  greatest 
single  factor  in  the  development  of  his  best  life 
and  of  his  service  to  the  community;  (3)  So  keenly 
do  we  feel  the  possibility  of  the  country  Sunday 
school  that  we  believe  it  is  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful agencies  in  bringing  the  country  church  to  its 
normal  leadership  in  the  country  life  movement. 

It  is  questionable  whether  the  rural  Sunday  school 
is  more  deficient  than  the  country  church  or  the 
rural  day  school.  It  is  always  easy  to  point  out 
defects,  but  even  the  most  enthusiastic  friend  of  the 
Sunday  school  must  admit  that  it  has  rather  seri- 
ous defects.  These  are  indicated  by  a  canvass  made 
by  the  Commission.  The  lack  of  leadership;  the 
inadequacy  of  teaching  material  and  of  equipment; 
sometimes  the  failure  to  understand  the  real  work 
of  the  Sunday  school — these  seem  to  be  clearly 
marked    deficiencies   in   the   present   rural   Sunday 


13^     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

school.  On  the  other  hand,  in  many  of  the  better 
farming  regions  the  country  Sunday  schools  are  as 
good  as  our  city  Sunday  schools,  and  there  is  no 
question  but  the  American  Sunday  school  has  per- 
formed and  is  to-day  performing  a  work  of  tre- 
mendous value  in  maintaining  a  right  sort  of  life  in 
our  rural  regions. 

The  Sunday  school  is  the  Church  at  work  in  a 
special  manner.  It  is  not  a  separate  institution ;  it 
is  a  means  by  which  the  Church  seeks  to  accom- 
plish a  definite  end.  Its  immediate  aim  and  pur- 
pose is  to  utilize  the  Bible,  which  it  regards  as  the 
supreme  religious  literature  of  the  race,  as  the  core 
of  the  effort  to  develop  Christian  character.  It 
would  seem  obvious  that  in  organizing  this  work 
the  rural  Sunday  school  must  have  definite  courses 
of  instruction,  should  seek  to  include  adults  as  well 
as  children  and  youth,  and,  above  all,  should  seek  to 
impress  its  spirit  upon  the  daily  activities  of  its 
pupils  so  that  it  may  become  a  continuing  and  per- 
vasive influence. 

It  is  possible  that  the  ideal  Sunday  school  can 
make  up  for  serious  deficiences  in  the  home  life, 
but  it  is  only  when  the  teachings  of  the  Sunday 
school  are  supplemented  by  both  the  teachings  and 
the  examples  of  the  home  that  we  can  expect  the 
results  we  desire.  The  Sunday  school  too  must 
relate  itself  naturally  and  closely  to  the  Church, 
the  young  people's  society,  the  day  school,  and  to 
the  recreative  and  social  life  of  its  pupils. 

The  question  of  organizing  the  rural  Sunday 
school    cannot    be    settled   by   methods    that   have 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    I37 

proved  effective  in  the  city.  For  example,  grading 
is  more  difficult;  and  yet  some  method  of  grading 
should  be  introduced,  even  in  small  Sunday  schools. 
Supervision  also  is  essential,  but  may  be  carried  to 
an  extreme.  Wise  supervision  consists  in  sugges- 
tion and  stimulus  rather  than  in  direction  or  dic- 
tation. 

Undoubtedly  specially  constructed  lesson  helps 
may  be  used  with  great  advantage  in  the  rural  Sun- 
day school,  although  this  should  not  be  carried  too 
far.  But  certainly  the  rural  pupil  should  be  brought 
to  appreciate  the  spiritual  element  in  rural  beauty, 
the  spiritual  meaning  of  his  environment,  and  the 
possibilities  of  his  daily  life  in  the  country. 

The  country  Sunday  school  should  develop,  so 
far  as  it  can,  social  and  recreative  activities,  but 
should  do  this  in  a  large  degree  in  cooperation  with 
other  agencies. 

One  of  the  devices  recommended  for  making  the 
Sunday  school  really  effective  is  Decision  Day. 

The  question  of  training  teachers  for  the  rural 
Sunday  school  is  a  difficult  one.  We  may  expect 
that  some  time  the  rural  Sunday  school  will  have 
the  benefit  of  teachers  specially  trained  for  this 
work.  For  the  present  such  means  as  conferences, 
correspondence  courses,  and  self-study  must  be  re- 
lied upon  to  a  very  large  degree.  Undoubtedly 
meetings  of  both  the  teachers  and  parents  will  help 
not  only  in  training  teachers  and  making  them  more 
alert,  but  also  in  bringing  the  home  and  Sunday 
school  more  closely  together. 


13^     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 


*RECOMMENDATIONS 

1.  We  recommend  the  organization  of  Rural 
Sunday  School  Committees  of  the  International 
Sunday  School  Association  in  all  states  and  prov- 
inces where  it  is  practicable  and  where  not  already 
organized.  It  is  highly  desirable  that  the  rural 
Sunday  school  problem  be  sufficiently  differentiated 
from  the  urban  Sunday  school  problem  so  that 
special  attention  may  be  given  to  it.  In  order  that 
special  attention  may  be  given  to  it  it  is  almost  an 
imperative  condition  of  efficiency  that  at  least  one 
person  in  each  state,  and,  if  possible,  a  staff  of  indi- 
viduals be  constantly  employed  to  study  the  needs 
of  the  rural  Sunday  school  in  that  state  and  to  take 
leadership  in  developing  the  work  along  the  most 
effective  lines. 

2.  We  question  the  advisability  of  compiling  a 
set  of  lessons  specifically  intended  for  use  in  the 
rural  Sunday  schools  and  entirely  apart  from  the 
lessons  intended  for  other  Sunday  schools.  It  is 
true  that  the  mind  of  the  rural  pupil  is  affected  by 
his  environment.  It  is  true  that  his  environment  is 
different.  At  the  same  time  there  is  serious  danger 
of  overemphasizing  in  the  use  of  educational  ma- 
terials these  differences  between  rural  and  urban. 
W>  believe  it  would  be  advisable,  however,  to  pre- 
pare lesson  helps  or  readings  to  be  used  in  connec- 
tion with  the  regular  lessons  and  which  are  filled 
with    illustrative   material   designed   to   enable   the 

♦In  reading   these    recommendations,   it    would   be    wise   to   re-read   the 
recommendations  of  Chapter  III. — Editor. 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    139 

boy  and  girl  in  the  country  Sunday  school  to  under- 
stand more  completely  than  he  might  otherwise  do 
the  intimate  relationships  between  the  human  and 
natural  life,  between  matter  and  the  problems  of 
character  and  personal  growth,  that  he  must  solve 
for  himself. 

3.  The  task  of  coordinating  the  rural  Sunday 
school  on  the  one  hand  with  the  other  agencies  of 
religion,  such  as  the  various  young  people's  socie- 
ties, the  Young  Men's  and  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Associations,  etc.,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  cor- 
relating the  Sunday  school  with  those  normal 
recreative  and  social  activities  that  form  so  large  a 
part  of  the  education  of  youth,  as  one  of  the  most 
important  and  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems 
which  the  rural  Sunday  school  has  to  face.  We 
believe  firmly  that  the  Sunday  school  in  both  city 
and  country  must  be  essentially  a  school  of  religion, 
but  it  must  be  pervaded  with  reality.  Its  atmos- 
phere must  be  not  that  of  the  cloister,  but  of  life. 
Its  teaching  must  be  vital  and  not  academic. 

And  in  order  to  be  vital  the  institution  itself  must 
not  stand  apart  and  separate,  but  must  rather  be 
the  nucleus  and  center  about  which  other  agencies 
and  activities  may  cluster.  Moreover,  the  indi- 
vidual pupils  of  the  rural  Sunday  school  must  be 
made  to  feel  that  in  the  Sunday  school  they  are 
learning  interesting  lessons  that  are  not  about 
things  foreign  and  apart,  but  are  learning  how  to 
use  the  ordinary  experiences  of  everyday  life  as  a 
means  of  becoming  better  and  stronger  and  nobler. 
The  Sunday  school  suffers  from  institutionalism ;  it 


I40     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

suffers  from  separatism.  It  must  be  vitalized  in 
terms  of  country  experience  and  country  life. 

This  need  of  correlation  raises  a  tremendously 
difficult  question.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  func- 
tion of  the  Sunday  school  is  unduly  enlarged,  it 
then  takes  the  place  of  other  agencies.  If  it  is 
unduly  minimized,  then  other  agencies  rob  it  of  its 
rightful  share  in  the  religious  education  of  youth. 
We  believe  that  it  is  not  the  function  of  the  Sun- 
day school  to  serve  as  a  means  by  which  all  activi- 
ties of  the  country  youth  are  concentrated  under 
the  banner  of  one  institution.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  must  not  stand  apart  from  these  activities  so  that 
the  youth  comes  to  think  of  it  as  having  no  relation- 
ship with  his  other  interests.  We  say  this  not 
merely  because  from  the  standpoint  of  institutional 
organizations  we  regard  it  unwise,  but  because  fun- 
damentally it  is  thoroughly  wrong  to  give  the  boy 
or  girl  the  impression  that  religion  is  something 
different  and  separate  from  life  itself — life  as  it  is 
lived  on  Monday  and  on  Friday,  life  as  it  manifests 
itself  in  play,  in  work,  in  community  interests.  The 
real  test  of  Sunday  school  efficiency,  the  real  prob- 
lem of  the  Sunday  school,  lies  in  its  power  to  inter- 
pret life  in  terms  of  God  and  to  interpret  God  in 
terms  of  plain,  common,  homely,  human  life. 

4.  The  Sunday  school  cannot  attain  its  maximum 
efficiency  until  the  parents  of  pupils  cooperate  in 
some  measure.  Daily  home  work  for  the  Sunday 
school  pupil  would  not  only  assist  in  bringing  the 
child  into  new  consciousness  of  the  significance  of 
the   Sunday   school,  but   it   would   make   the  best 


Summary  and  Conclusions  of  the  Commission    14-^ 

method  of  approach  for  the  parent's  aid.  Leaflets 
intended  for  pupils  could  be  prepared  and  dis- 
tributed among  the  parents.  These  leaflets  could 
give  the  main  facts  concerning  the  lessons  that  the 
pupil  is  following,  pupil  readings  and  other  read- 
ings, and  indicate  how  the  parent  could  work  with 
the  child  in  the  Sunday  school  preparation. 

5.  In  some  respects  the  most  difficult  problem 
of  the  rural  Sunday  school  is  the  problem  of  the 
teacher.  This,  of  course,  is  difficult  everywhere, 
but  peculiarly  so  in  the  country  because  of  lack 
of  material.  It  is  well  enough  to  suggest  the  de- 
velopment of  trained  teachers,  but  where  shall  we 
get  the  teachers,  and  how  shall  we  train  them?  In 
the  better  rural  communities  there  are  intelligent 
men  and  women,  perhaps  somewhat  old-fashioned 
in  their  theology  and  methods,  but  nevertheless 
possessing  an  effective  knowledge  of  the  Bible  and 
considerable  experience  in  teaching  it.  But  we  ex- 
pect that  the  supply  of  teachers  from  this  group  is 
rapidly  decreasing.  Are  there  any  to  take  their 
places?  It  is  quite  evident  that  the  only  material 
available  is  the  material  that  exists  in  the  country 
community.  It  is  impossible  to  employ  specialists. 
It  is  impossible  to  bring  in  people  from  outside  the 
parish.  The  teaching  must  be  done  by  those  among 
the  members  of  the  Sunday  school,  or  at  least  the 
people  of  the  community.  In  some  way  those  who 
are  at  all  competent  to  teach  must  be  prevailed 
upon  to  do  so,  and  some  device  must  be  found  by 
which  they  can  be  trained.  This  training,  however, 
cannot  be  developed  to  any  extent  through  special 


142     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

schools.  Sunday  school  institutes,  pastors'  normal 
training  classes,  reading  and  correspondence 
courses  must  be  relied  upon  as  the  main  methods 
for  teacher  training. 

Of  course,  we  hope  the  day  is  dawning  when 
there  will  come  into  all  our  farm  communities 
young  men  and  young  women  educated  in  the  agri- 
cultural schools  and  colleges,  desiring  to  live  their 
lives  in  the  country,  ambitious  to  be  of  all  the 
service  possible,  and  trained  also  to  take  hold  of 
the  problems  of  the  Church  as  well  as  the  problems 
of  the  farm.  We  believe  that  so  important  is  it 
that  the  number  of  these  should  be  increased  and 
that  they  should  come  back  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  service,  as  well  as  endowed  v/ith  the 
ability  to  teach,  that  we  wish  to  urge  that  the  Inter- 
national Sunday  School  Association,  in  common 
with  the  other  agencies  of  religion,  organize  a 
special  propaganda  among  the  students  of  the  vari- 
ous schools  and  colleges,  to  the  end  that  those  who 
are  going  back  to  the  country  may  go  back  pre- 
pared to  teach  and  to  lead  in  church,  Sunday  school, 
and  in  other  forms  of  religious  community  work. 


Chapter  XI 
SQUARED   FOR  .WORK 

To  know  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  rural  districts, 
their  needs  and  lives  and  life  surroundings,  and  to 
fit  to  these  some  kind  of  adapted  work  for  the  de- 
velopment of  rural  boyhood  and  girlhood — such  is 
both  the  warrant  and  the  finding  of  the  Rural  Sun- 
day School  Commission.  To  this  end  the  commis- 
sion has  gathered  the  evidence  and  has  rendered 
the  verdict. 

The  next  thing  to  do  is  to  go  to  work  along  the 
line  of  the  conclusions. 

Three  factors  must  be  carefully  noted  as  we  meet 
this  task :  the  individual,  rural  economic  and  social 
conditions,  and  the  rural  Sunday  school  itself.  Chap- 
ters II,  III  and  VIII  should  be  read  together.  It  is 
good  to  know  that  folks  everywhere  are  pretty  near- 
ly the  same  and  that  in  the  rural  districts  they  are 
at  their  best;  less  nervous,  slower  in  thought  but 
steadier  in  action.  We  might  have  known  also  that 
folks  cannot  be  understood  or  helped  apart  from 
their  surroundings  and  that  all  our  Sunday  school 
organization  must  be  fitted  to  rural  need  just  as 
much  as  it  ever  can  be  graded  to  the  city. 

The  rural  Sunday  school's  greatest  need  is  leader- 
ship, and  that,  too,  is  the  chief  lack  in  the  city.    It 

143 


144     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

likewise  has  been  the  compelling  need  of  the  world 
as  long  as  man  has  lived.  Whatever  leadership 
there  is  is  generally  found  bound  up  in  some  church 
enterprise,  and  nothing  can  please  us  if  we  cannot 
be  glad  that  the  commission  has  declared  that  the 
Church  and  Sunday  school  form  the  principal  fac- 
tor in  the  rural  community.  The  task,  then,  is 
through  training  classes  and  personal  discovery  to 
meet  the  need.  The  adolescent  boy  and  girl  them- 
selves afford  the  solution.  Chapters  IV,  V  and  VI 
deal  with  this  problem. 

Life  is  four-fold  in  the  country  as  in  the  city. 
It  is  physical,  social,  mental  and  religious,  wher- 
ever it  exists  in  human  form.  Since  it  is,  it  is  co- 
operative with  individuality  and  initiative.  The 
Sunday  school  must  organize  to  meet  all  needs  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Christ.  This  means  a  varied  activ- 
ity with  rural  background  and  adaptation,  not  dif- 
ferent from  urban  activity  in  itself  but  in  form.  The 
Sunday  school  must  be  organized  with  superintend- 
ents, officers,  departments,  classes  and  teachers. 
These  must  be  adapted  to  the  need.  Not  less  or- 
ganization is  needed,  only  not  so  much  of  one  kind. 
Beginners,  Primary,  Juniors,  Boys  and  Girls  (Inter- 
mediate or  Senior),  men  and  women,  are  just  as  dis- 
tinct in  the  country  as  in  the  city — the  number  only 
is  smaller  in  any  single  school  or  community. 
Equipment  sometimes  is  lacking,  but  equipment  is 
man-made  and  is  produced  readily  at  will.  I  have 
seen  a  farmer  effectually  separate  some  tiny  pigs, 
for  purposes  of  feeding,  from  the  larger  hogs.  A 
couple  of  boards,  a  hammer  and  a  few  nails  effected 


Squared  for  Work  145 

the  change.  The  intelligent  grasp  of  the  rural  Sun- 
day school  problem  is  the  big  need.  Life's  hungers 
are  the  same  everywhere,  and  the  adolescent  seeks 
steady  employment  on  all  sides  of  his  life.  There 
is  no  more  social,  mental  or  religious  hunger  in  the 
city  than  in  the  country.  It  is  only  a  trifle  more 
feverish  in  the  city.  The  soul  of  the  rural  adoles- 
cent needs  the  universal  vision  as  much  as  the  city 
life  does.  Spiritual  lessons  should  be  much  the 
same,  but  the  lesson  helps  and  other  supplementary 
material  should  have  rural  adaptation.  Lessons 
must  be  graded  as  all  adolescents  progress,  and  the 
lesson  writer  must  know  the  rural  life  as  well  as 
the  adolescent  and  the  book.  This  is  a  problem  of 
the  publishing  house,  as  are  most  graded  lesson  diffi- 
culties.    Chapter  VIII  deserves  much  study. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Commission  empha- 
size the  necessity  of  the  rural  Sunday  school  being 
a  steady  force  in  the  community  instead  of  a  weekly 
gathering.  Its  work  must  be  of  the  seven-day 
variety  and  be  in  constant  touch  with  home  and 
school  and  community  life.  Nothing  lives  unto  it- 
self. It  must  be  the  social  center  as  well  as  the 
spiritual  dynamic  of  the  neighborhood.  Through  it 
the  leaven  of  Jesus  must  raise  all  the  community's 
activities  to  their  highest.  The  country  Sunday 
school  has  more  opportunity  and  hope  for  life- 
building  than  its  urban  sister.  Read  Chapter  IX 
several  times. 

Supervision  is  the  greatest  need.  State  and 
County  Sunday  School  Associations  must  render 
greater  service  to  the  country  schools.    Because  of 


146     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

inexperienced  officers,  it  is  clearly  a  matter  of  pro- 
viding programs  and  of  affording  visual  demonstra- 
tion to  these  workers.  The  rural  Sunday  school 
officer  needs  less  theory  and  principle  and  more 
efficient,  practical  methods.  Leadership  demonstra- 
tion at  county  conventions  for  community-rural 
activity  would  benefit  the  organization. 

The  ideals  for  the  rural  Sunday  school  are  not  a 
whit  different  from  those  of  the  urban  school. 

Ideals  for  the  Local  School 

1.  A  Teen-Age  Superintendent. 

2.  Every    class    organized    according    to    Inter- 
national Standard. 

3.  Two-session   classes — Sunday   and   through- 
the-week  sessions. 

4.  Through-the-week    activities;    physical,    so- 
cial, mental  and  spiritual. 

5.  Trained  Teachers — 

(a)  Men  teachers  for  boys. 

(b)  Women  teachers  for  girls. 

(c)  Older  boys  and  girls  as  teachers  for 
younger  boys  and  girls. 

(d)  Teachers,  graduates  of  International 
Standard  Training  Course. 

6.  Organized  Department — 

(a)  Intermediate  and  Senior. 

(b)  Teen  age  for  both  boys  and  girls. 

(c)  Boys. 

(d)  Girls. 

7.  Use  of  Graded  Lessons  or  Instruction. 


Squared  for  Work  147 

8.  Standard  Equipment — 

(a)  Separate  rooms. 

(b)  Blackboards,  maps,  etc. 

(c)  Reference  library  for  teachers. 

9.  Annual  promotion  and  public  recognition. 

10.  Missionary,  temperance  and  purity  instruc- 
tion. 

11.  Definite  opportunity  afforded  every  pupil  to 
confess  Christ  and  join  His  Church. 

12.  Definite  opportunity  for  Christian  service  for 
every  boy  and  girl. 

As  these  ideals  will  take  different  form  in  schools 
of  different  size  and  locality  in  the  city,  so  must 
they  find  their  own  expression  in  rural  life  and 
rural  conditions  in  order  to  meet  the  life  needs  of 
the  country  boy  and  girl. 

To  sum  up,  or,  as  the  preachers  say,  "Hear  the 
conclusion  of  the  whole  matter !"  A  knowledge  of 
country  life  is  the  first  essential  to  adequate  rural 
Sunday  school  work ;  the  economic  and  social  con- 
ditions that  define,  limit  and  determine  rural  life. 
The  individual  boy  or  girl  must  likewise  be  studied 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  rural  type.  The  Com- 
mission finds  that  the  differences  between  the  rural 
and  urban  boy  or  girl  are  determined  by  surround- 
ings or  environment.  Hencie  the  importance  of 
knowing  the  latter.  The  rural  church — therefore 
the  school  or  Sunday  school — is  the  principal  fac- 
tor in  the  rural  community  for  the  development  of 
rural  life.  Its  relation  to  adolescence,  then,  is  of 
prime  importance.  To  live  up  to  the  demands  that 
the  rural  community  makes  on  the  Church  and  the 


14S     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 

Church  school  or  Sunday  school,  these  must  adapt 
themselves  to  become  the  social  center  of  the  com- 
munity— the  word  "social"  being  used  in  the  widest 
sense  as  the  sum  of  the  needs,  physical,  social,  men- 
tal and  spiritual,  of  the  whole  community  life.  The 
organization  of  the  rural  Sunday  school  must  adapt 
itself  to  meet  all  such  needs.  Chapter  VIII  is  the 
particular,  practical  suggestion  of  the  Commission 
for  this  end.  The  rural  Sunday  school  problem  is 
the  same  as  that  of  the  city — the  meeting  of  adoles- 
cent need  in  view  of  its  life  and  environment.  It  is 
more  acute  in  the  rural  districts  because  the  de- 
nominational Sunday  school  boards  and  publishing 
houses  have  been  fully  occupied  with  urban  prob- 
lems. Country  life  leaders  now  call  upon  them  to 
give  attention  to  the  other  part  of  our  Christian 
heritage.  Their  adequate  solution  of  this  problem 
offers  the  best  form  of  conservation-activity  and 
development  of  denominational-consciousness  that 
has  yet  appeared  on  the  Sunday  school  horizon. 
"Who  knoweth  whether  thou  art  come  to  the 
Kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this?" 


BIBLIOGRAPHIES 


COUNTRY  LIFE 


Anderson. — The   Country   Town,   $i.oo. 
Bailey.— The  Outlook  to  Nature,  $1.25. 
Bailey. — The  Country  Life  Movement,  .60. 
BuTTERFiELD. — Chapters  in  Rural  Progress,  $1.00. 
FiSKE. — The  Challenge  of  the  Country,  .75. 


The  Report  of  the  Country  Life  Commission,  ,75, 

THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

AsHENKURST. — The   Day   of    the    Country   Chiurch, 

$1.00. 
BuTTERFiELD. — The  Country  Church  and  the  Rural 

Problem,  $1.00. 
Roads. — Rural  Christendom,  .90. 
Wilson. — The  Church  in  the  Open  Country,  .50. 


Rural  Church   Message    (Men  and  Religion   Move- 
ment), $1.00. 

BOYHOOD 

Alexander. — Boy  Training,  .75. 
Alexander. — The  Boy  and  the  Sunday  School,  $1.00. 
FiSKE. — Boy  Life  and  Self-Government,  $i.qo. 
Hyde. — The  Quest  of  the  Best,  $1.00. 
McKeever. — Farm  Boys  and  Girls,  $1.50. 
Raffety. — Brothering  the  Boy,  .75. 

149 


150     The  Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School 
GIRLHOOD 

Alexander. — The  Girl  and  the  Sunday  School   (in 

preparation). 
Slattery. — The  Girl  in  Her  Teens,  .50. 
Slattery. — ^The  Girl  and  Her  Religiai,  $1.00. 

THE  ADOLESCENT 

Alexander. — The   Sunday   School   and   the   Teens, 

$1.00. 
Alexander. — The    Teens    and    the    Rural    Sunday 

School,  .50. 

THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

Alexander. — Departmental  Organization  in  the  Sun- 
day School.* 
The  Organized  Sunday  School  Class  for  Boys.* 
The  Organized  Sunday  School  Class  for  Girls.* 
State  and  County  Teen  Age  Sunday  School  Work.* 
The  Teen  Age  Crusade.* 
Older  Boy  and  Girl  Conferences.* 
Teen  Age  Round  Table  Leaflet.* 

Lawrance. — How  to  Conduct  a  Sunday  School,  $1.25. 

Lawrance. — Housing  the  Sunday  School,  $2.00. 

McElfresh. — The  Training  of  Sunday  School  Teach- 
ers and  Officers,  .75. 

EXPRESSIONAL  A'CTIVITIES 

Alexander. — The   Organized   Sunday   School   Gass 
for  Boys.* 
The  Organized  Sunday  School  Class  for  Girls.* 

*  Bulletins  of    information    issued  by  the  International  Siinday  School 
AflBOciation.    Sample  copy  free. 


Bibliographies  151 

Baker. — Indoor  Games  and  Socials  for  Boys,  .75. 
Bancroft. — Games  for  the  Playground,  Home,  School 

and  Gymnasium,  $1.50. 
Burr. — Around  the  Fire,  .75. 

Chesley. — Social  Activities  for  Men  and  Boys,  $1.00. 
Gibson. — Camping  for  Boys,  $1.00. 
Hasluck. — The  Hasluck  Books  on  Bent  Iron  Work, 

Clay  Modeling,  Etc.,  .35  to  $1.00. 


Boys'  Handbook,  Boy  Scouts  of  America,  .30. 

GENERAL 

Brumbaugh. — The  Making  of  a  Teacher,  $1.00. 
Foster. — Starting  to  Teach,  .40. 
James. — Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology,  $1.50. 
Kirkpatrick. — Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  $1.25. 
St.  John. — Stories  and  Story  Telling,  .50. 


'American  Youth. — A  bi-monthly  magazine ;  the  organ 
of  the  Boys'  Department  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations,  $1.00  year;  single  copy, 
.20. 

Boys^  Life. — A  monthly  magazine;  the  organ  of  the 
Boy  Scouts  of  America,  $1.00  year;  single  copy, 
.10. 

Rural  Manhood. — A  monthly  magazine ;  the  organ  of 
the  County  Work  Department  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations,  $1.00  year;  single 
copy,  .20. 


DATE  DUE 

i 

. 

DEMCO  38-29? 

